The Sports Guy has been bashing Bristol ever since he landed his new TV deal with HBO and rolled out The Ringer website.
When Simmons hinted to Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times he thought that Bob Iger, boss of ESPN parent Walt Disney Co., wanted him out in order to land an NFL team for Los Angeles, Skipper fired back.
In a statement to the NYT, he blasted Simmons for acting like a “martyr.” Skipper stated again that he, not Iger, made the call to drop the Sports Guy in 2015. Via Rutenberg:
To back up its position that the network is not in the tank for the NFL, ESPN sent the NYT 70 critical items it reported about the league. The Worldwide Leaders pays the NFL nearly $2 billion a year for the rights to “Monday Night Football.”
It’s interesting to note Simmons kept quiet while still under contract to ESPN. He wanted to wring every last penny out of the Worldwide Leader. He only started throwing bombs after he became a free agent.
Simmons knows how to promote his own brand. His anti-ESPN campaign could be a publicity ploy to bring attention to The Ringer and his HBO show, “Any Given Wednesday,” that premieres Wednesday, June 22 (10 p.m. ET).
But don’t bet on it.
The egos involved here are enormous.
Simmons seems genuinely hurt that ESPN bosses like Skipper (who coddled him for a decade and ignored his antics) suddenly turned on him when he went after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The Simmons vs. ESPN war shows no signs of letting up now that the Sports Guy is contractually free to speak his mind and has several new properties to promote.
It will be interesting to see whether TV Bill goes after his hated former employer during the premiere of his new show. Stay tuned.
