Bill Simmons will leave ESPN this autumn when his contract expires after it was revealed that the two parties were unable to come to a new agreement.
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ESPN president John Skipper revealed that their differences were about more than just money, and so a 15-year relationship will come to a end with Simmons establishing himself as one of the leading sports personalities in the USA.
It is understood that the two parties were involved in negotiations for months, but Skipper conceded that the time had come to move on and start the transition.
“I’ve decided that I’m not going to renew his contract,” he said, as reported by the New York Times.
“We’ve been talking to Bill and his agent and it was clear we weren’t going to get to the terms, so we were better off focusing on transition.”
Skipper added that Grantland, the sports and entertainment site run by Simmons for ESPN, will continue unaffected by his departure as he believes that the site can continue to be successful without him.
With regards to Simmons’ future, he has not yet made any comment on the news but will now be searching for new ventures ahead of his contract coming to a conclusion in September.
Although outspoken at times, he remains a highly popular and influential figure and so there is the option that he shuns working for another media corporation in favour of using his own profile to start his own multimedia platform with outside investment.
As well as being regarded as a columnist and presenter, Simmons has been heavily involved in podcasts and his highly popular “30 for 30” documentary film series. As a result, there appears to be a whole host of options available to him moving forward.
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