[danso]

Besides Grantland stories popping up frequently on HN, ESPN is an interesting and significant company...not just because of its pure size and near monopoly over sports entertainment, but because of its willingness to invest money in non-profitable media ventures, like Grantland...Grantland was a great example of what happens when you hire the best writers and give them room to work.

[mlucero]

I'm not sure I see the hacker news connection myself. It's a news site about sports. They weren't really doing anything particularly innovative besides the popular editor and good writers.

[paulcole]

"They weren't really doing anything particularly innovative"

Well, better get back to posting about the next "unicorn" with no business plan.

[Analemma_]

A big part of it is that Grantland was seldom accused of writing "clickbait" or churning out low-quality content. They had talented writers producing good longform material. If ESPN couldn't make that profitable, it's a blow to the argument (often seen on HN) that people are willing to pay for quality journalism.

[aaron-lebo]

See a piece like this:

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/silicon-valley-hal...

Not about sports, informative, and thoughtful.