Twenty years ago this summer, Hard Knocks went dark. After launching with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001, then being invited to Dallas by Jerry Jones in ‘02, the show failed to find a suitable—and willing—subject the following year.
“We felt we had done the show and it was like, ‘Okay, we did that now. Now what’s next?’” Hard Knocks lead creative producer Ken Rodgers recently told Vanity Fair. “We didn’t realize that it was such a sustainable model.”
It wasn’t until 2007 that Hard Knocks returned, focusing on the Kansas City Chiefs; six years later, NFL owners passed a rule ensuring that the show could become a yearly occasion.
All of that set the stage for Tuesday night, when Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets debuted. After much discussion about the franchise’s willingness (or lack thereof) to open its doors to HBO’s cameras, Tuesday’s premiere made clear that Aaron Rodgers was willing to play ball.
Midway through the episode, wide receiver Garrett Wilson discusses how he and his Jets teammates can get the most out of the future Hall of Famer while he’s there. “It’s a blessing” to have him, Wilson says. And you can almost feel the Hard Knocks producers mouthing the words along with him.
Outside of that scene, the show rarely strays from Rodgers, showing how he deals with the attention, his relationship with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, his mentorship of Zach Wilson, and the awe he regularly puts on his colleague’s faces.
Once upon a time, the season debut of Hard Knocks was celebrated as a true kickoff moment for the new NFL season. Now, not so much—because football season never ends.
Year after year, the amount of NFL storytelling increases, and fans continue to gobble it up. The NFL Draft has been stretched across multiple days. The combine became a TV event. The start of free agency is now on every fan’s calendar. Even schedule release day is a verifiable thing.
A number of other behind-the-scenes shows have popped up to fill whatever voids might be left. Most recently, Quarterback debuted on Netflix, bringing football in July and quickly reaching the top of the platform’s charts. Teams themselves now put out highly produced, lengthy, behind-the-scenes docuseries as well. And as long as Hollywood’s strikes drag on, look for unscripted sports content to take up even more time on center stage.
But as the material piles up, fans can also find themselves asking, “Haven’t we seen this before?”
Amid the recent proliferation in unscripted sports content, largely spurred by the success of Drive to Survive and streamers like Netflix aiming to attract sports fans without paying for live rights, viewers have become increasingly difficult to please—and wary of watching purely promotional material.
To earn my attention, sports docuseries need to provide all three of the following components:
Even if Hard Knocks helped create the genre, it has little incumbency advantage as it competes with video content of every format and length for viewer attention. However, the show does have two decades of experience figuring out how to turn the drudgery of NFL training camp into must-watch entertainment—and how to do it on a quick turnaround schedule few other shows attempt.
Last year, it was the Detroit Lions’ characters who stood out, from coach Dan Campbell to running back Jamaal Williams to rookie Malcolm Rodriguez. This time around, HBO appears ready to air the Aaron Rodgers show, transforming from a drama about making the team or making the leap to a rare document showing the impact greatness has on everyone around it. Just like New York, Hard Knocks is banking on Rodgers’ star power to help it stand out from the pack.
