Dave Harmon, VP HBO Sports / Steve Sabol, NFL President / Carl Peterson, Chiefs President
Highlights
CARL PETERSON: “I tried to put some words together for our team this morning describing NFL Films. The words that come
to mind are qualitative, trustworthy, passionate, knowledgeable, professional, entertaining.
“Let me say that it is the Kansas City Chiefs’ honor to be selected to participate in this joint effort with NFL
Films and HBO. NFL Films understands our game and what it takes to compete on the National Football League level. Steve
has been after me for a number of years to do this and after talking to Herm and with his cooperation and agreement
we’re pleased to be a part of it.”
DAVE HARMON: “HBO has had a 30-year relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs. Len Dawson was on Inside the
NFL starting in 1977. Our relationship with NFL Films is 30 years as well. We feel so happy and honored that both
of these top organizations have agreed to participate in our show, “Hard Knocks,” which we have found is the most
requested HBO sports show that we’ve ever had. It hasn’t been on for a couple of seasons because we haven’t found the
right mix of teams and situations. We feel like we have the right mix right now.
“We have total belief that NFL Films will create another landmark series of documentary-style television of exactly
what is going on in the training camp of the Chiefs.”
STEVE SABOL: “A little background on “Hard Knocks.” The first time was with the Ravens after they came off their
world championship and it was a real breakthrough television series because of the access we were given. We were in the
meeting rooms; we were there when players were cut. It was a groundbreaking series in more ways than one. Of course, on
HBO there is no language barrier and that was a first for the NFL. I was a little concerned about that when the first
couple of f-bombs came flying over the air and I was expecting a call from the commissioner.
“The first call I got was from Lamar Hunt. Lamar goes back and had a great relationship with us and he and Art
Modell and Art Rooney were the chairmen of our first film committee. I was concerned about the language. But the first
thing that Lamar said was how much he enjoyed it and these are his exact words, because it expanded the fans knowledge
of the game. All of you here know how much Lamar cared about the fans. Right away the Chiefs were on my hit list to
come back.
“But there are so many reasons why we picked the Chiefs. Number one, they’re a good team. They were in the playoffs
last year and they’re going to be contenders this year. Number two, they have a very interesting mix of players.
They’ve got future Hall of Famers, old pros, new players – a very diverse group of interesting backgrounds. The
coaching staff is very vibrant, great communicators with a charismatic head coach who has worked with us since he’s
been a player. The general manager has been at his post longer than anyone else in professional sports. You’ve got a
storied franchise owned by one of the most respected families in the NFL.
“On top of all that and the reason we picked the Chiefs is this is a first-class operation from top to bottom that
is fully endorsed by the commissioner and an organization that we know will show not only the NFL but the game of
football at its best. That’s why we’re excited about this production.
“We’ll have four camera crews at River Falls all the way up until the Governor’s Cup game. To me, training camp is
such a great opportunity for a filmmaker because you’re really dealing with a laboratory of human emotions. There are
funny things, stupid things, emotional things, and they all happen on the football field, behind the football field and
it makes for entertaining filmmaking.”
HERM EDWARDS: “I go back to Steve when he was an apprentice. The reality of it all is he tells you on film the
history of our league. His whole life is watching our game through a camera. He knows how hard it is to play and coach
in this league and how hard it is to build a football team. I think our players will be excited about it because you
never have to worry about getting them fired up about going to practice because they’re going to be on television. I’ll
tell them if they don’t practice good today your mom’s going to see you.
“He’ll be quite surprised by the language on our field. There won’t be a lot of bleeping going on. I can guarantee
you that.