Short answers, pulled from the story.
ESPN announced the closure of Grantland on the 30th of October, 2015. ESPN President John Skipper stated the decision was not financial but reflected a choice to direct time and energy toward projects with broader impact across the company. The shutdown came shortly after ESPN laid off around 300 employees and amid reports of losing 3.2 million cable subscribers in 2015.
Grantland was founded by Bill Simmons, a veteran sports journalist and writer, and officially launched on the 8th of June, 2011. Simmons served as editor-in-chief until May 2015, when ESPN announced it would not renew his contract.
Grantland Rice was a celebrated early-20th-century sportswriter who lived from 1880 to 1954. Bill Simmons named the site after him as a tribute to long-form, literary sports journalism, reflecting the site's mission to bring that tradition into the digital era.
In January 2014, Grantland published an article by Caleb Hannan about a golf putter inventor named Essay Anne Vanderbilt, referred to as Dr. V. The piece revealed Vanderbilt's transgender identity alongside claims about her fraudulent credentials, treating both as deceptions. Vanderbilt died by suicide before the article was published. Bill Simmons later acknowledged that Hannan had outed Vanderbilt to one of her investors and that the editorial team had failed to educate themselves about transgender issues before running the piece.
Grantland received 6 million unique visitors in March 2015, the year it closed. Some observers argued that readership level could not financially sustain a staff of approximately 50 writers, editors, and technical personnel.
Bill Simmons launched a new outlet called The Ringer in 2016, and many former Grantland staff members joined him, including Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, Shea Serrano, Jason Concepcion, and Bryan Curtis, among others. Simmons also continued Grantland podcasts such as The Watch under The Ringer brand.