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