Grantland shut down today. It was probably never going to last long after Bill Simmons left ESPN in May, and while ESPN publicly stated that they will keep it alive, they didn't. It's gone. And with it a collective of talented writers that covered every topic, most of it well. Grantland was created the Summer of 2011, it lived for four strong years. It's gone. In a way, I am sad. I visited it daily. I liked a lot of their writers. I listened to a few of their podcasts. I found it a great mix of pop culture, media entertainment, and sports. But now that it is gone, what did we actually lose?
Let's look at it another way. None of these writers died. They are all going to continue to write. They got tremendous exposure in Grantland that should benefit them in their search for new outlets. Some of the main sports writers may land up at ESPN proper. I don't think today marks the end of Zach Lowe's, Bill Barnwell's, Jonah Keri's, and Robert Mays's careers as journalists. I don't think this is the end of the type of content that they put out. They will find homes, continue to do what they do. Maybe with more restrictions, maybe with less freedom. But in the end what Grantland's failure proves is that freedom does not work.
Grantland didn't fail because Bill Simmons was let go. It was failing before that and stayed alive because Bill Simmons was there. Apparently the site never really made money. Similar type sites were created in multiple places, like SportsOnEarth, or The Classical, and they've all basically fallen apart. SportsOnEarth was something close to Grantland, with respected writers and huge media support, and it failed even more quickly. Without Simmons's at-the-time cozy position with ESPN brass, it lived for five years. That's the reality.
Let's treasure that we had Grantland instead of mourn the fact it is gone. To be honest, I am not a Bill Simmons fan. I respect what he meant for his industry, but Grantland got better the further away it went from Simmons's ideas. Early on the Simmons imprint was everywhere - take random bracket challenges for things no one cared about. But Simmons stopped being a real full-time writer around 2013 or so, and the site got better when it was more of the other people. That was the true Grantland... problem is not enough people cared.
ESPN is a business; and a company in that business that for the first time ever is forced to cut costs. Forget sports, ESPN was the biggest money-making machine in Television - but seemingly that period is over. It still will have the highest cable carraige fees, and the largest revenues, and the biggest pockets in sports media, but it couldn't survive at its current level. Cutting costs happens, and Grantland, without its spiritual heir and figure-head leader in Simmons, was not going to ever make it out alive.
The loss of Grantland says more about the inability for that model to work. The intersection of sports and pop culture really isn't that big; they are largely separate circles and people have seemingly better places to go for each.
As a consumer for each, I will follow Zach Lowe wherever he goes (ESPN would be foolish to let him go), and the same of Robert Mays, Jonah Keri and Ben Lindbergh (was never a real fan of Barnwell back when he was at Football Outsiders in his previous life). I will likely do the same for a couple of their pop culture people - though that was never my cup of tea. I will lose a few podcasts (though I feel like the hosted one's like Lowe's and Keri's will stay assuming they stay on ESPN). But I'm not lazy enough to go to three sites to read three people's work instead of one.
To be honest, I was more torn up when Kissing Suzy Kolber was gutted. Most of the sites writers had turned-over a few times from their initial group, but both the style of the site, and its interconnected set of commenters were still there. Those things were lost forever. Those guys may have gone elsewhere, but that amazing little community was lost. This wasn't. Zach Lowe will live on. Bill Barnwell will live on. Jonah Keri will live on. Robert Mays will live on. It may take a few months for everything to sort itself out, but we aren't losing those voices. We are just losing the last hope of a collection of voices like that being all at the same place.
Let's look at it another way. None of these writers died. They are all going to continue to write. They got tremendous exposure in Grantland that should benefit them in their search for new outlets. Some of the main sports writers may land up at ESPN proper. I don't think today marks the end of Zach Lowe's, Bill Barnwell's, Jonah Keri's, and Robert Mays's careers as journalists. I don't think this is the end of the type of content that they put out. They will find homes, continue to do what they do. Maybe with more restrictions, maybe with less freedom. But in the end what Grantland's failure proves is that freedom does not work.
Grantland didn't fail because Bill Simmons was let go. It was failing before that and stayed alive because Bill Simmons was there. Apparently the site never really made money. Similar type sites were created in multiple places, like SportsOnEarth, or The Classical, and they've all basically fallen apart. SportsOnEarth was something close to Grantland, with respected writers and huge media support, and it failed even more quickly. Without Simmons's at-the-time cozy position with ESPN brass, it lived for five years. That's the reality.
Let's treasure that we had Grantland instead of mourn the fact it is gone. To be honest, I am not a Bill Simmons fan. I respect what he meant for his industry, but Grantland got better the further away it went from Simmons's ideas. Early on the Simmons imprint was everywhere - take random bracket challenges for things no one cared about. But Simmons stopped being a real full-time writer around 2013 or so, and the site got better when it was more of the other people. That was the true Grantland... problem is not enough people cared.
ESPN is a business; and a company in that business that for the first time ever is forced to cut costs. Forget sports, ESPN was the biggest money-making machine in Television - but seemingly that period is over. It still will have the highest cable carraige fees, and the largest revenues, and the biggest pockets in sports media, but it couldn't survive at its current level. Cutting costs happens, and Grantland, without its spiritual heir and figure-head leader in Simmons, was not going to ever make it out alive.
The loss of Grantland says more about the inability for that model to work. The intersection of sports and pop culture really isn't that big; they are largely separate circles and people have seemingly better places to go for each.
As a consumer for each, I will follow Zach Lowe wherever he goes (ESPN would be foolish to let him go), and the same of Robert Mays, Jonah Keri and Ben Lindbergh (was never a real fan of Barnwell back when he was at Football Outsiders in his previous life). I will likely do the same for a couple of their pop culture people - though that was never my cup of tea. I will lose a few podcasts (though I feel like the hosted one's like Lowe's and Keri's will stay assuming they stay on ESPN). But I'm not lazy enough to go to three sites to read three people's work instead of one.
To be honest, I was more torn up when Kissing Suzy Kolber was gutted. Most of the sites writers had turned-over a few times from their initial group, but both the style of the site, and its interconnected set of commenters were still there. Those things were lost forever. Those guys may have gone elsewhere, but that amazing little community was lost. This wasn't. Zach Lowe will live on. Bill Barnwell will live on. Jonah Keri will live on. Robert Mays will live on. It may take a few months for everything to sort itself out, but we aren't losing those voices. We are just losing the last hope of a collection of voices like that being all at the same place.
