Day 278

Fresh Start_278: The future of 30 for 30
With the 30 for 30 about Mike Francesa and “The Mad Dog” Christopher Russo coming out on July 13th of this year, two different conversations arise from this film. The first is what the New York sports radio will do when Francesa retires in December, and what will sports documentaries do after this film?

The first question is talked about on my podcast “Grind Hours Podcast” with my good friend Nick Paradies, and you can listen to what we think on that podcast. It will be extremely interesting to see what happens when December rolls around.

The second question is interesting for a completely different reason. With the OJ Simpson 30 for 30 winning an Academy Award for Best Documentary this past February, it brings a spotlight back on the ESPN documentary series. With Bill Simmons leaving ESPN, joining HBO and is starting to be involved with sports documentaries again with the announced Andre the Giant documentary. This Mike and the Mad Dog documentary coming up fast, the 30 for 30 franchise has a buzz around it again.

When 30 for 30 began in 2009 with “Kings Ransom” the series began a conversation and look ins like never before. The insight on different aspects in sports, the series for me didn’t catch my eye until I saw “The U,” “Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks,” and  “Run Ricky Run” which were all in the first season. My favorite film in this series is “The Fab Five” which is a film about the Michigan Wolverine basketball team that was recruited to Ann Arbor in 1991.

With Simmons the creator of 30 for 30 now being three years removed from the series and is starting to get back into the game—and seems as passionate about sports documentaries as ever, what will 30 for 30 do? They have an Academy Award, they have timeless documentaries through 3 seasons of the series, and they seem to have another giant with the Mike and The Mad Dog documentary coming out. What do you do next?

This question is so exciting for a sports documentary film fan like myself, because Simmons get to have his “revenge” if you want to call it that with the Andre the Giant film coming out, ESPN might have to change the game again if they want to survive. The series has thrived without Simmons, but how can it get better without the man who made it what it was?

Just like the New York sports radio conversation, it will be interesting to see how ESPN responds to having a legitimate competitor in the film realm for the first time in the 30 for 30 history. HBO might come into the sports documentary market and thrive, taking a piece of the pie away from ESPN. Like Nick and I said on the podcast “with ESPN the channel and website taking a completely different direction, the radio part of ESPN might be walking into uncharted territory.”
Sources:(espn.com, si.com)
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