HBO to Feature Arizona State, Florida, Penn State, Washington State on 24/7 College Football Series
by
Andy Wittry
HBO is bringing a “Hard Knocks”-style all-access show to college football this season as Arizona State, Florida, Penn State and Washington State will be featured on an upcoming, four-part HBO Sports “24/7 College Football” series.
The show will also be available on HBO On Demand, HBO NOW, HBO GO and partners’ streaming platforms.
The series will cover Florida in preparation for its game against Towson on September 28, Penn State against Purdue on October 5, Arizona State against Washington State on October 12 and Washington State against Colorado on October 19.
Stadium obtained a copy of the signed contract between HBO and the Arizona Board of Regents acting on behalf of Arizona State University to learn what level of access the schools agreed to give HBO.
HBO will pay Arizona State $50,000 for its participation in the series.
The two parties agreed that the university, its employees, students, agents or other affiliates will not be entitled to “receive payment of any kind in connection with any aspect” of the series, other than the agreed-upon $50,000, which, of course, is interesting in light of the advancement of California Senate Bill 206 that could allow student-athletes to earn compensation for their name, image and likeness.
Arizona State “shall provide HBO and/or its designees…with reasonable access to the Team, the Coach and Team management, employees, other Sun Devil Athletics staff, coaches and players.”
But what does that mean?
Arizona State agreed to three days of background shooting and interviews with HBO from August 14-16, which included a 45-minute sit-down interview with Arizona State Coach Herm Edwards and additional interviews with other staff members and players, then one game day shoot in the first month of the season to “acquire additional atmosphere footage” on August 29 for the Sun Devils’ game against Kent State.
HBO’s main shoot for its Arizona State-specific episode is from October 5-12 before the Sun Devils’ game against Washington State – another school that will be featured in the series.
Arizona State granted HBO full access for the week prior to game day, which includes:
- “Daily practice footage with Coach and members of his staff mic’d up”
- “Meetings with Coach and his staff throughout the week (in Coach’s office and meeting rooms)”
- “Interactions/meetings between the Coach, the Coach’s staff and team members”
- “Short interviews with Coach and select members of the Coach’s staff, along with members of the team, throughout the week”
- “Coach off the field, including, but not limited to, in his car, but not in his home”
- “Select players away from the field, at such times as determined by University”
HBO agrees to provide the schools with a rough cut of their school-specific episodes and any advertising or promotional materials, then the schools will have 24 hours from the time they received the rough cut to notify HBO in writing of any portion the school believes:
- “Violates any NCAA rules and/or regulations”
- “Disparages the University, Coach or any member of the Team”
- “Reveals confidential information about the Team, any member thereof, or its strategies”
- “Is materially inaccurate”
If a school believes any of the material violates any of the agreements above, it agrees to provide supporting details, such as the rules at issue, time codes of the offending material or the requested change.
In its “good faith discretion,” HBO agrees to correct any such portion of the material identified by the school. If a school doesn’t notify HBO within the 24-hour period, HBO is under no obligation to make any changes to the episode.
One clause in the contract, which is interesting from a legal perspective but likely won’t impact the series, is that if within three years after the execution of the agreement, HBO hires an Arizona State University employee or a university representative who was “significantly involved in negotiating, securing, drafting, or creating” the agreement, then Arizona State can cancel the agreement.