Bill Simmons Reveals Name, Details of New Website

The online property launch comes as Simmons gets set to roll out his upcoming program at HBO, to include several Daily Show alums. The new hires will be announced “in the near future”, according to Simmons’ spokesperson.

Sports writer Bill Simmons announced the details of his new website, The Ringer, which will also feature the work of several former Grantland writers.

While there’s obviously not to much to go on there, CNN’s Brian Stelter noted that The Ringer’s newsletter, advertised on the site’s launch page, will begin in mid-March.

The Ringer will debut later in 2016, and many die-hard Simmons fan will assume he wants it live before the NBA Draft on June 23. The actual site “will debut sometime this late spring or early summer”, the spokesman said. After stating publicly that executives were committed to Grantland without Simmons, ESPN on October 30 announced the shuttering of the site.

CNN Money also reports that The Ringer has hired more than half a dozen former Grantland writers and editors. Sean Fennessey came in as editor-in-chief; Chris Ryan was named executive editor; Juliet Litman signed on as managing editor; and Mallory Rubin became the deputy editor.

The site is a product of the Bill Simmons Media Group, a company Simmons recently founded.

When a Twitter follower asked Simmons Wednesday morning what lessons he learned from running “Grantland” from a business perspective, he responded, “Don’t do it with ESPN”.