ESPN announced this afternoon that all work on Grantland, the acclaimed sports and pop culture blog founded by Bill Simmons in 2011, will be suspended. The site was the home of ESPN’s best long-form reporting and stories and it’s not certain what will happen with the site’s writers.
“Effective immediately we are suspending the publication of Grantland,” the network said in a statement. “After careful consideration, we have decided to direct our time and energy going forward to projects that we believe will have a broader and more significant impact across our enterprise.”
ESPN praised Grantland for making a name for itself with “quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking and fun,” adding that Simmons was “passionately committed to the site and proved to be an outstanding editor with a real eye for talent.” ESPN thanked the site’s writers, editors and staff, as well as Chris Connelly, who stepped in after ESPN decided to not renew Simmons’ contract.
“Despite this change, the legacy of smart long-form sports story-telling and innovative short form video content will continue, finding a home on many of our other ESPN platforms,” ESPN’s statement concluded.
ESPN announced in May that Simmons’ contract would not be renewed, leaving the future of Grantland unknown until today. James Andrew Miller, the author of ESPN: These Guys Have All The Fun, tweeted that the site will stop adding content immediately and some of the writers will continue working at ESPN. All of their contracts will be honored, according to Miller.
ESPN President John Skipper has been making cuts at the Disney-owned sports media empire in recent weeks. Earlier this month, as many as 350 staffers were reportedly laid off.