Why ESPN Fired Bill Simmons
That Bill Simmons’s 14-year run at ESPN has come to an end isn’t actually all that surprising. The relationship between Simmons and the brass in Bristol been rocky for some time now, and Simmons recently lost the support of his greatest champion, ESPN president John Skipper. What is surprising is the way in which it went down. This doesn’t look like a mutual parting, but rather an outright firing.
Again, here is Skipper’s statement announcing Simmons’s departure
“I decided today ...” is a far cry from the neutral corporate-speak that usually gets deployed in situations like these. (“After a great deal of discussion and negotiations, ESPN has decided to move forward in a new direction, blah blah blah blah.”) This was an active decision by Skipper to push Simmons out the door, and more than one ESPNer has described this to us as a firing— one that Simmons found out about at the same time as the rest of us did.