Richard Dietsch of SI.com is reporting that Bill Simmons is going to be alright regardless of ESPN’s decision to part ways.
Dietsch via a well-connected source — believes Simmons can fetch anywhere from $7-$10 million a year on the open market from several other media outlets.
A well-connected person in the business puts @BillSimmons earning power at $7-10M per year from an outlet/s: http://t.co/C0eskoShDM
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) May 8, 2015
What’s next? That’s the obvious question. One longtime agent who has worked with various networks placed Simmons potential earnings at $7-10 million per year. “Look for him owning his dot-com rights and all the content that comes with it including podcasts,” said the agent. “And a TV play such as Turner, Fox, HBO or Showtime.”
(Simmons is represented by James Dixon, whose talent roster includes Stephen Colbert, Carson Daly, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart and Adam Carolla. Dixon will get his client money.)
The possible suitors for Simmons include other traditional media companies, such as Fox Sports where one of Simmons’ longtime friends and admirers, Jamie Horowitz, just took a job as the president of Fox Sports National Networks. Horowitz will oversee programming, marketing and scheduling for Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 and supervise management and development of original programming.