Rumors of HBO doing a college football version of Hard Knocks appear to be true.
Alabama, Washington State, Penn State and Arizona State were named as the four teams selected for the show, Devils Digest, Rivals.com’s site for Arizona State, reported Monday, and ESPN confirmed Tuesday that HBO is in negotiations with the four programs.
And now, Washington State’s Twitter account officially confirmed the news Saturday — although it did not provide any additional details about the show.
The structure of the show has not been finalized, according to ESPN, but it is expected to resemble HBO’s Hard Knocks, which offers viewers a behind-the-scenes look at teams during NFL training camp. The Oakland Raiders are the current NFL team featured.
While HBO has not yet made an announcement about the college football show, cameras were at Washington State’s practice Friday.
Cougars head coach Mike Leach was asked what it was like, saying at first, he didn’t notice they were there. He explained:
“It’s alright. Just ignore them. Practice ignoring the cameras ’cause they want a genuine look, and we’re not going to get our work done unless we effectively ignore one another. So it seemed like it worked pretty good for both sides. … At first huddle, I didn’t realize, but then all of a sudden there’s cameras all over. I just told them to ignore them and do their job. Seemed like we did.”
Like with everything else in college sports, it’s fair to assume that players will not be compensated for their participation in a TV show.
Penn State coach James Franklin talked Wednesday about the possibility of the Nittany Lions being featured on a Hard Knocks-type show. He said they’re “honored to be a part of that conversation” but added that no decision had been made at that point.
“It’s great that we’re in that conversation, but no decisions have been made at this time,” Franklin continued. “As you can imagine, there’s a lot that goes into it, not just with Penn State but with the Big Ten and a lot of other things factor into it.
“At this point, we haven’t made a decision, but once we have all the details, we can make a decision at that point.”
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