Future of 'Hard Knocks' Discussed at Most Recent Owners Meeting
The future of HBO's "Hard Knocks" was discussed at the most recent owners meeting in May due to the league having some difficulty finding a team for the upcoming season, reports the MMQB's Albert Breer.
This season, "Hard Knocks" will follow the coach Jon Gruden and the Raiders throughout training camp.
According to Breer, the general assembly at the meeting, which includes owners and team presidents, discussed the show's viability and potential evolution.
Breer wrote:
"One idea mirrored the 'All-Access' series that Showtime has done, where NHL teams have been featured in preparation for the Winter Classic and boxers have been spotlighted ahead of big fights. The NFL concept would be to give NFL Films access to two teams going into a big game a few times over the course of the season, with the episodes airing later in the year. And that, as far as I can tell, would be in addition to the training camp series, which could undergo changes as well. My sense is that the concern would be 'Hard Knocks' getting stale after all these years—and as all of you well know, the league likes to get in front of those sorts of things. And another thing that was discussed (that I’m sure coaches will love) was the potential elimination of parameters around who the league can mandate to do 'Hard Knocks,' which allow the NFL to make anyone do it."
The series began in 2001 with the Ravens. Since then, the Cowboys (2002, 2008), Chiefs (2007), Bengals (2009), Jets (2010), Dolphins (2012), Bengals (2013), Falcons (2014), Texans (2015), Rams (2016), Buccaneers (2017) and Browns (2018) have been featured on the show.
The Raiders finished last year at 4–12—the team's worst record since 2014.
