Grantland’s Surprise Shutdown Shocked Many On The Internet, Including Its Staff

Grantland, which started out as Bill Simmons’ multimedia passion project, but staggered on after his termination at ESPN, was long in an uncertain situation, with no guarantees about its future. Turns out that when the end came, it came suddenly and without warning for Grantland writers, who found out when ESPN PR tweeted out their statement:

Then the Grantland writers, popular and beloved among Internet sports geeks, tweeted out their reactions to being cut loose from their mother site, but not fired. They cover the gamut of emotions.

https://twitter.com/rembert/status/660155014619504641

https://twitter.com/rembert/status/660160810581368832

https://twitter.com/jonahkeri/status/660154728072941568

https://twitter.com/pappademas/status/660157671278964736

https://twitter.com/netw3rk/status/660155160564523008

https://twitter.com/SpikeFriedman/status/660155755199246337

https://twitter.com/billbarnwell/status/660158747843555328

https://twitter.com/andrewsharp/status/660155415762739200

https://twitter.com/runofplay/status/660157198878707712

Grantland had a lot of writers, man. The rest of the Internet was much more universally negative.

https://twitter.com/Ethan_Booker/status/660155453322764288

https://twitter.com/jonbernhardt/status/660155780969066496

https://twitter.com/williamfleitch/status/660155314621280256

https://twitter.com/itzbreak/status/660158928433618944

https://twitter.com/silviakillings/status/660155595643871232

And finally, you knew the Godfather of the site was going to weigh in. Would you believe he’s critical of how ESPN handled the situation?

The Grantland writers will not be fired, but they will be relocated and they still have no promises about their future at ESPN past their current contracts (few of which will likely last far into next year). Everyone is expecting the writers to find work elsewhere, both because of their talent and because of the certainty that ESPN doesn’t want them. They’d rather pay already-rich former players to mangle the English language.