--- title: Here's Why Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN Is a Big Deal description: The most famous sports writer in America is leaving the biggest media company in the world canonical: https://time.com/3852202/bill-simmons-leaving-espn/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-08T20:04:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:03:41.501Z article:section: Sports og:title: Here's Why Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN Is a Big Deal og:description: Why it matters even if you're not a sports fan og:url: https://time.com/3852202/bill-simmons-leaving-espn/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta694adc8d609a6bd/6987ef0a524fc0198adf0a14/466352250.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "Son Of The Congo" - 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN Is a Big Deal twitter:description: Why it matters even if you're not a sports fan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta694adc8d609a6bd/6987ef0a524fc0198adf0a14/466352250.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 3 Reasons Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN Is a Big Deal > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 8, 2015 8:04 PM UTC  Bill Simmons attends the premiere of "Son of the Congo" during the 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center in Austin on Mar. 14, 2015. Bill Simmons attends the premiere of "Son of the Congo" during the 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center in Austin on Mar. 14, 2015.Heather Kennedy—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 8, 2015 8:04 PM UTC After months of rumors, ESPN made its split with Bill Simmons official Friday. It’s rare that a writer’s departure from a media outlet creates so much interest–even if the writer is one of America’s most influential sports personalities and the outlet is among the world’s most valuable media companies–but here’s why Simmons leaving matters: **1\. Bill Simmons is a major brand** At a time when the monetary value of the written word has been diminished, people know Bill Simmons’ name and listen to what he has to say, making him a valuable asset. His columns at ESPN have [historically been the most popular](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/magazine/can-bill-simmons-win-the-big-one.html) on the site. His podcast, the B.S. Report, was [downloaded](http://recode.net/2014/01/03/sports-guy-bill-simmons-helped-make-podcasts-a-thing-next-up-a-business/) 32 million times in 2013, long before the format had a renaissance last year. His dead tree book, _The Book of Basketball_, is a no. 1 New York _Times_ bestseller. And he is an established on-air personality on ESPN shows like _NBA Countdown_. Thanks to his massive reach (Twitter following: 3.68 million and counting), ESPN allowed Simmons to start his own sports and pop culture website, Grantland, under their banner. That move helped pave the way for a wave of other media brands built around the distinct visions of their founders (see below). Simmons is also responsible for some of ESPN’s most critically-acclaimed recent programming. He was the mastermind behind the award-winning documentary series 30 for 30\. Originally conceived as a way to mark ESPN’s 30th anniversary, the films were so successful that the company decided to continue funding the ambitious projects for years to come. **2\. His brand has sway** Simmons has reach far beyond sports. Guests on the B.S. Report have included President Barack Obama, late night host Jimmy Kimmel (whose show Simmons once wrote for), _Girls_ creator Lena Dunham, _Mad Men_ actor Jon Hamm and author Malcolm Gladwell. Dunham has proved to be a particularly enthusiastic supporter. After Simmons was suspended by ESPN for calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a “liar” on his podcast during the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal and challenging ESPN to fire him, Dunham rallied celebrities like Judd Apatow to his defense on Twitter using the hashtag #FreeSimmons. And other big editorial names listen to Simmons’ advice. When the statistician Nate Silver left the New York _Times_ in 2013, it was Simmons (and Simmons’ dad) who [helped convince him](http://time.com/13804/hey-sports-fans-its-time-for-math-class/) to turn his Five Thirty Eight site—known for predicting elections with freakish accuracy—into an appendage of ESPN structured similarly to Grantland. **3\. His audience is loyal** Simmons re-imagined sports writing from the perspective of the fan, dispatching neutrality in favor of emotion and energy. When he began writing for AOL in 1997, the conventions of blogging didn’t even exist. Simmons’ stream of consciousness writing, filled with plenty of pop culture references, established a new kind of style, and his unabashed partisanship won over readers. (One column he wrote was titled “Is Clemens the Anti-Christ?”) He eventually branded himself as the “Sports Guy” for ESPN.com and _ESPN the Magazine_ and spawned a legion of imitators. Wherever Simmons goes, his millions of fans will travel with him. Still, losing Simmons won’t exactly be a death blow to ESPN, which is reportedly [worth $50.8 billion](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2014/04/29/the-value-of-espn-surpasses-50-billion/). ESPN is an entertainment behemoth, and Simmons’ audience is just a small fraction of their overall reach. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3852202/bill-simmons-leaving-espn/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3852202/bill-simmons-leaving-espn/"},"headline":"3 Reasons Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN Is a Big Deal","datePublished":"2015-05-08T20:04:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:03:41.501Z","description":"Even if you're not a big sports fan","url":"https://time.com/3852202/bill-simmons-leaving-espn/","keywords":["Media"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta694adc8d609a6bd/6987ef0a524fc0198adf0a14/466352250.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta694adc8d609a6bd/6987ef0a524fc0198adf0a14/466352250.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Son Of The Congo\" - 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival","caption":"\"Son Of The Congo\" - 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival","creditText":"Heather Kennedy—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/media/","name":"Media"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3852202/bill-simmons-leaving-espn/","name":"3 Reasons Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN Is a Big Deal"}}]}] ```