via sources, multiple sauces and the internet. http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2015/07/22/bill-simmons-lands-at-hbo-with-multi-platform-deal/
HBO would lean on Simmons hard... hoping he could put something together that could carry HBO sports. He'd either make HBO legitimate or HBO would completely ruin Simmons. You need a lot of capitol to be real-time. If you're not real-time in sports you're irrelevant.
This seems like a good deal if you're a fan of Simmons. I, personally, can't wait to see him uncensored on the NFL and ESPN's carrying of their water. Plus, it seems like he'll be recording podcasts again. However, he's never been great on television. The Grantland Basketball Hour had terrible ratings (also never on at consistent times), but he never seemed like a natural in front of the camera. I thought Zach Lowe grew into that role better than anybody else (and the Lowe Post is genuinely great podcast now). I wonder if he'll write and, if so, where he'll do it. HBO isn't known for written editorial content, so it'll truly be an experiment to see if his legion of fans will follow him to nontraditional websites.
Simmons can't generate revenue or viewers, but HBO is all about prestige, and he has that association
I thought for years, Simmons could really break out under HBO if he was let go by ESPN/Disney. I don't think the "Real Time" issue will hurt him that much. John Oliver does well enough and HBO boxing is produced and distributed live of course. With BS' experience with 30 for 30's, and such I'm sure he'll produce good enough stuff to appeal to the masses, but my main question is how much he's going to be able to commit to just basketball like he was able to do with the BS report, and Grantland basketball hour. What made BS and his basketball coverage great was how he had a great network of guys supporting him with Jalen, Lowe, and co. Jalen would be a perfect fit for HBO as well because he already covers boxing, and knows football as well as basketball. I'm very excited about this move for HBO. Hopefully there is a pocket of the network they allow to be basketball-centric, but either way, there will be good stuff coming soon.
I'm mainly interested to see who he poaches from Grantland. Lowe, Jalen? Goldsberry? The people who do TV/film reviews? Or will ESPN do all they can to prevent that from happening?
Here is the Press Release from HBO http://hbob2b.vo.llnwd.net/u/mr_twitter/July2015/billsimmons_ann_final.pdf
I'd like to see a gradual flow out of espn for sports coverage. I think they have failed us as a news outlet while flooding us with biased narrative driven bs. If there was ever a guy that could accomplish this it's Bill Simmons. Looking forward to seeing what he does with HBO sports.
If Zach Lowe wont be on BS' podcasts anymore I will be very sad. Zach and Bill together made for the best basketball podcasts and it wasn't even close. It won't effect BS' production with not having other ESPN analyst because honestly the only good ones were the Grantland contributors. Fingers crossed that we won't be seeing Jalen anymore.
Just as long as the podcasts are back with Cousin Sal and him predicting the NFL lines each week I will be happy.
I think Goldsberry was always an independent contributor(oops - I'm wrong here - I guess they made him a staff writer. Simmons can probably still work with Goldsberry, but Zach Lowe would be a huge pickup. The rest of the staff is mostly not worth saving - Jalen is annoying and pompous, Jacoby basically just got the job because he's Bill's old friend(same with his buddy House). The Afterdark crew isn't anything special - basically the same as any campus sports talk program(although sadly Juliet, Sharp, and the other guy are much older). Jason Concepcion is the only other somewhat decent guy there besides Lowe & Goldsberry.
Sounds like a lot of them are riding out the clock on their contracts so they can leave for other ventures:
