Bill Simmons has reached a contract agreement with HBO Sports. Sports Illustrated writer and reporter Richard Deitsch is saying that it’s a multi-year contract that allows Bill pretty much the same production deal he was given at ESPN–the ability to create podcasts, his own television talk show, and other digital content. No word yet on how this will affect HBO Sports’ website.
Contract details are coming later today.
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Technically Bill Simmons was the first one to break the news with his mysterious tweet of the HBO 1983 intro (shown below).
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As we all know, Grantland is still running without Captain Bill at the helm and it’s no surprise that Bill is going to get his own podcast (and probably a 30 for 30-type documentary series), but what about HBO Sports’ website? That’s really going to be interesting to see if Bill wants to continue writing or just stick to podcasts and TV.
The bad news? Is that the contract doesn’t start until October and that his show isn’t going to begin until 2016. At least that gives him plenty of time to figure out the layout of what he’ll hope to achieve.
In a statement announcing his decision to join HBO, Bill said, “It’s no secret that HBO is the single best place for creative people in the entire media landscape… It was hard to imagine being anywhere else.” HBO had similar praise for the pop-culture x sports mastermind. “We have been fans of Bill Simmons and his work for a very long time. 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.”
You can read the full official statement in the link at the bottom of this tweet.
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This story is developing.
