The NFL unveiled Monday that the Seahawks will be the featured team on “Hard Knocks” (Training Camp) on HBO this coming season, while the Patriots will be the featured team in 2027 (X, 3/30). The Seahawks will appear on “Hard Knocks” for the “first time in their history.” For years the team was “not eligible because of rules stating that a team did not have to take part if it had appeared in the playoffs over the previous two seasons.” But those rules “were changed a year ago, in part to make the show more appealing” (SEATTLE TIMES, 3/30). It will also be the “first time in franchise history” that the Patriots will be featured on “Hard Knocks” (MASSLIVE, 3/30).
Having the two Super Bowl teams from last season as the next two participants “shows a real commitment to trying to revive a series that’s become a little stale with the flood of team- and league-produced ‘all-access’ shows out there.” The NFL Films folks “need more and more access to make it stand out.” Putting two “really good teams, and really good franchises, in the show doesn’t really solve that.” But “this idea is worth a try” (SI, 3/30).