According to the host, Simmons’ fall-off comes from the fact that he no longer conducts big-time interviews like he did in his ESPN and Grantland days. The host also believes Simmons is less prepared and interested in sports conversation than he used to be, a fate that befalls many aging hosts.
Here are the comments, in full:
Yeah, it’s an excellent question and people who don’t listen don’t understand it. We don’t hate Bill Simmons—if we did, we wouldn’t listen. Personally, I think his podcast is objectively worse than it used to be in terms of quality of content. At ESPN he featured a wider variety of guests than today’s Ringer-dominant lineup, brought on key sports figures such as David Stern more often, had on celebrities which were often doing interesting longform interviews for the first time, and talked about most sports rather than being so NBA heavy. Additionally, I think Bill has regressed as a host—he doesn’t prepare as much, he interrupts guests instead of listening and asking questions, and the podcast is usually more about him than his guests, which I don’t think was the case at the start and which I believe developed as Bill became more famous and successful. Plus, I just don’t think Bill cares as much about sports as he used to, which inevitably shows up in the pod.
If Simmons is slacking, it hardly shows in the data. The Bill Simmons Podcast (the real one, not the one based on the sub-Reddit) remains one of the top sports podcasts on the planet. On top of that, Simmons routinely draws 200,000-plus viewers on his recently launched YouTube channel for new episodes.
Some elements of this answer, however, are inarguable. Even Simmons recently teased a coming uptick in interviews, noting that Spotify is building out more studio space throughout Los Angeles in the near future.
Since launching his trailblazing podcast in 2007, there have been a great many imitators. Some have succeeded in taking up some space on what The Sports Guy might call “Bill Simmons Island.” He isn’t the only one having irreverent, gimmicky sports conversations anymore.
Perhaps that is why longtime listeners are coming back. Simmons is a genre unto himself, and all the slop out there can make you hungry for the original thing. At least, that’s what the host of The r/BillSimmons Podcast thinks.
“We know the content is worse than it used to be, but we keep coming back because it’s enjoyable to listen for all his Simmons-isms, making fun of him and his guests for the stupid sh*t they say, laugh at his extremely confident predictions that don’t pan out, and revel in the joy of a Boston team losing a playoff game and Simmons going mad,” he told Defector.
The current Simmons is less crass, less experimental, and more self-indulgent than the guy who was putting out podcasts in the shadows at ESPN nearly 20 years ago. By that standard, this anonymous host is likely correct to call Simmons “worse” at being a sports podcast host. But Simmons is undeniably as good as ever at being Bill Simmons.
