I more or less interned for Bill when I was in college (it wasn't an official internship). This was back in Bill's Digital City Boston days.
The one thing about Bill is he is incredibly smart when it comes to the media business. He has studied so many writers and the sort and he understands the big picture of business so well that I would be willing to bet that he could honestly tell you what his next steps are in detail and how all of the players will respond and how he will get what he wants.
My guess is he'll end up at Fox. Fox's HQ's are in LA which is important for Bill. They are not likely to restrict him nearly as much as ESPN (owned by Disney) did. They are also looking to compete with Disney and Bill is the only real draw of anybody at ESPN. I'm sure that Bill would love to get back at ESPN and John Skipper and knows that going to Fox would be the best way to do it.
I don't see Grantland surviving very well w/o Bill and Grantland is expensive to run. So now you lose the main attraction for Grantland and a money maker could turn into, at best, a loss leader. Meanwhile your competitor that paled in comparison now gains substantial ground on you. It would be tough for Skipper to explain to shareholders why he allowed that to happen and couldn't work things out.
I've heard some suggest he'll do his own independent thing, but that requires risking Bill's money and at a probable lower income and more work for Bill. Even if he has investors, he would be beholden to those investors and that wouldn't separate it much from the issues he had with being accountable to the ESPN execs. Bill knows that and I just doubt he'll go on his own or at least do it for a substantial period of time.
I really don't read or listen to Bill anymore. I do believe if he goes to a place like Fox, he'll go back to more of his Digital City style...less fanboy-ish. That was never his style anyway and I believe ESPN thrust that upon him. That may persuade me to go back to reading him and listening to him again.
YR
