Grantland launched in June 2011, and the summer is generally a dead period in hiring. As the site staffed up, a lot of hires were made in the fall. When renewing, ESPN often rounds off, neatly ending contracts on at the end of the year for accounting purposes. What this means for the site is that a lot of contracts will be up this fall and winter.
Simmonss biggest, most inspired hire was Wesley Morris, the onetime columnist at The Boston Globe who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for criticism. Morriss contract is up near the end of the year, and according to sources within ESPN and elsewhere, he is in serious talks to leave Grantland for The New York Times. Other staffers are looking for new opportunities as well.
Skipper has made a lot of sounds about the future of Grantland, the loudest of them claims that the site would be unaffected by Simmonss departure. Thats bullshit, of course, because Simmonswho for all his flaws had a good eye for talented writers, the sense to leave them alone, and the power to protect themisnt there anymore. The shame, for both the sites readers and contributors, is that whether at its worst or best or somewhere in between, Grantland has been willing to address sports and the real world and how they interact, and able to get things wrong in service of figuring out how to get them right. Grantland is going to change. Given ESPNs track record, it will likely be for the worse.
