Bill Simmons officially joins HBO, series to start in 2016

Bill Simmons can now say all the nasty things about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell he wants. The respected sports writer, who founded the ESPN blog Grantland, has joined HBO.

ESPN announced in May that it would not renew Simmons’ contract this fall. Although his contract doesn’t expire until September, Simmons went incredibly quiet and stopped writing on Grantland the moment the news broke.

In June, it was rumored that HBO was trying to get Simmons. This morning, the premium cable network confirmed the news.

“We have been fans of Bill Simmons and his work for a very long time,” Michael Lombardo, president of HBO programming, said in a statement. “His intelligence, talent and insights are without precedent in the areas he covers. We could not be more thrilled for him to bring those talents to HBO and to become a signature voice at the network, spanning the sports and pop culture landscapes.”

Simmons added, “It’s no secret that HBO is the single best place for creative people in the entire media landscape. From the moment I started talking to Michael and Richard [Plepler, HBO chairman and CEO], it was hard to imagine being anywhere else.”

Simmons will only appear on television on HBO. A talk show will debut in 2016 and he will take advantage of HBO’s other digital platforms to record podcasts and other features. The overall deal will start in October.

It will be interesting to see if HBO can set up an online outlet for Simmons’ writing or if he even plans on continuing to write columns.

image courtesy of HBO

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