It’s a nifty trick to turn a sports business story into an engaging piece of filmmaking. That was the case with Apple TV’s recently released four-part docuseries Super League: The War for Football, the best sports documentary I’ve seen in 2023. The film focused on the emergence – and eventual failure – of a proposed ‘Super League’ competition among Europe’s most popular teams. The pacing, plot, and pacing felt like scripted drama.
I was thinking about sports movies this week because of the success of Air, the Ben Affleck-directed film about Nike’s pursuit of Michael Jordan. Reviews for the film were strong – The New York Times described it as “cheerfully amusing and very eager to please” – and although “Air” might not exactly be “Super Mario Bros.” As a box office game, I would already call it a success as it is an R-rated drama released by a streamer. Deadline provides a nice context for his strong box office debut.
As a fun exercise, I started thinking about what historical sports business stories could be adapted into a successful film. This list is in no particular order – and actual play on the field or court cannot play a central role. Please leave your thoughts in the comment section. Perhaps a commentator from The Athletic will be signed by CAA or WME.
1. Sept. 17, 1920
The National Football League was born that day when a group of business people met in Canton, Ohio at the Hupmobile dealership of Canton Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay. Given the marketing machinery, if the NFL approves the film, you’ve just guaranteed box office success. (If not, brand it as the movie the NFL doesn’t want to see.) There are already many books and articles on the subject, so the research is complete. Find an A-lister to play George Halas. Hire great set designers.
2. Curt Flood’s story
Ezra Edelman, the driving force behind “OJ: Made in America,” produced a widely acclaimed HBO documentary in 2011 about Flood’s legal challenge to MLB’s restrictive “reserve clause.” This 2011 play by Alan Barra provides the context of Flood’s remarkable and ultimately tragic life. In the hands of the right filmmaker, one could see an amazing theatrical release come to life. As Barra notes, Flood changed baseball and never capitalized on the revolution he helped start. He eventually opened a bar in Mallorca, Spain and died on January 20, 1997, two days after his 59th birthday.
3. The NCAA vs. Alston
Legal dramas have a long history of success as scripted dramas, and this one is a crowd puller because the NCAA ends up losing. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision that NCAA restrictions on “educational benefits” for college athletes violate antitrust laws. It would be a challenge to tell the history of amateur athletics, but a clever screenwriter could make a very compelling film out of it.
4. Title IX
“No person in the United States shall be excluded, denied benefits, or discriminated against because of their sex from participation in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding.” This monumental legislative triumph has a fascinating history, which you will easily seen on screen, whether through the POV of lawmakers like Patsy Mink, the lead author and sponsor of the bill, or the athletes of the day.
5. The Vince McMahon story
Someday someone will make this film. Legally, I think it will come after Vince dies.
Some Notes from the Master:
• Watching the final nine holes of the Masters on Sunday, I was struck by how beautifully choreographed the dynamic was between the announcers and the production. So many nice touches, from the slow motion and description of winner Jon Rahm’s bold tee shot at No. 13, to lead announcer Jim Nantz making a remarkably prescient call at Jordan Spieth’s tee shot at No. 18 as he hit a tee von Spieth scored in the final round of the 2018 Masters, which went left. (Like on cue, Spieth hit a left on the same hole on Sunday. “Gosh, history repeats itself a bit here,” Nantz said.) This has been a very long day for CBS, with third-round coverage coming around 8 a.m. started: 30 p.m. ET and Rahm’s last beat came at 7:22 p.m. Nantz, who was great all Sunday, closed it with “Rahm wins the Masters marathon”. The pictures of Rahm and his TV kids were cute. Rahm was great in the interview with Butler Cabin. Excellent work all round.
• As a very casual golfer, I loved Rory McIlroy wear earphones and a microphone on the ninth hole last Thursday during a live interview with ESPN. As Ryne Dennis of the Augusta Chronicle pointed out, it was a first for Augusta that McIlroy and Max Homa wore microphones.
• It’s always nice to hear what Verne Lundquist calls golf.
Matchups were everything when it came to NBA Play-In game viewership. The first four games on ESPN and TNT (Nets–Cavaliers, Timberwolves–Clippers, Hawks-Horners, Pelicans–Spurs) last season averaged 2.45 million viewers. That was far fewer than 2021, which was anchored by Lakers-Warriors (5.6 million viewers).
This year’s Tuesday games look set for viewership gains: The Lakers play Minnesota on Tuesday at 10pm ET on TNT; Hawks-Heat is the early game (7:30 p.m. ET) on TNT. The following day, there’s Bulls-Raptors (7:00 p.m. ET) on ESPN and Thunder-Pelicans (9:30 p.m. ET) on ESPN.
Episode 292 of the Sports Media Podcast features ESPN play-by-play announcer Ryan Ruocco calling both the Women’s Final Four and the WNBA for ESPN, and the Yankees and Nets for the YES Network, as well as Chantel Jennings and Sabreena Merchant, national Writers for The Athletic about the WNBA and women’s college basketball. On this podcast, Ruocco talks about calling the most watched women’s college basketball game of all time the voice of LSU-Iowa; why the growth of women’s basketball has occurred; the influence of Caitlin Clark; the footage of Angel Reese mocking Clark; the terrible administration in the title game; his WNBA and Nets schedule; the MLB Pitch Clock and more. Jennings and Merchant Discuss Dallas Women’s Final Four; the record viewership; media rights for the upcoming women’s tournament; why trash-talking and taunting are good for women’s basketball; Merchant’s Women’s College Basketball Early Top 25 with LSU at No. 1; our #1 bet and more.
Some things I read in the last week that were interesting to me:
• The sins of the father. By Eric Pape of The Atavist.
• A heartbreaking and exasperating read. Following an alleged rape by a Michigan athlete, the death of a woman and a mother’s search for answers. By Kenny Jacoby of USA Today.
• Baseball phenom, 13, dies by suicide. He came home from school, left a video: “I hate my life.” By Dana Hunsinger Benbow for The Indianapolis Star.
• Magnus Carlsen’s reign of chess ends with a mouse slip. By Andrew Beaton and Joshua Robinson of The Wall Street Journal.
• From WWE to MLS, Kevin Egan balances Monday Night Raw with American football. By Elias Burke of The Athletic.
• The Tao of Spo: Erik Spoelstra’s compassion, competitiveness and confrontation. By Jason Quick of The Athletic.
• Clarence Thomas and the billionaire. By Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski of Pro Publica.
• A great man was arrested as President. By Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal.
• Harold Varner III won’t lie about LIV: “It’s about the damn money.” By Kent Babb for the Washington Post.
• Victor Wembanyama’s ticket market explodes. The only problem? There is only one card and it is in issues of SI for Kids. By Nando Di Fino of The Athletic.
• A kidnapping in Alabama that’s stranger than fiction. By Charles Gaines of Garden & Gun.
• How the Red Sox became The Idiots: Manny, Pedro, Millar and the funniest clubhouse ever. By Rustin Dodd and Jayson Jenks of The Athletic.
• An interview with the creator of ArtButMakeItSports. By Madeleine Hill.
• Mistakes on the Abyss. By Sergey Radchenko and Vladislav Zubok of Foreign Affairs.
• The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel and Max Olson take an in-depth look at Pac-12’s never-ending media rights debate.
• Don Lemon’s misogyny at CNN, Debunked: Malicious lyrics, taunting of female employees and “diva-like behavior.” By Tatiana Siegel Variety.
• Bosses want hard workers – so they hire older people. By Callum Borchers of The Wall Street Journal.
(Photo by Ben Affleck: Ashley Landis)