One of the sports world's most famous fast-pitching muckrakers, Bill Simmons, will launch an HBO talk show on June 22, for which he will apparently be paid between $7 million and $9 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The new show, "Any Given Wednesday With Bill Simmons," has been a tumultuous year in the making for the sportswriter, who was courted by everyone from Yahoo to CBS after his abrupt departure from ESPN, he told The Hollywood Reporter in a story that was posted Wednesday.
"Guys from Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Snapchat — these first-rate technology giants were all trying to figure out how to get into the Bill Simmons business," James Dixon, Simmons' agent, told THR.
Simmons, known for his "sharp elbows," has been laying low after a dramatic exit from his ESPN-backed media site, Grantland, last year. Simmons describes the high school-esque conflict, where he criticized NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's handling of the "deflategate" controversy, in depth to The Hollywood Reporter.
CNBC reached out to the companies involved. They were not immediately available for comment. HBO declined to comment on Simmons' contract. ESPN declined to comment.
For more on Simmons' tell-all, check out the story at HollywoodReporter.com.
— Reporting by CNBC's Michelle Castillo