Netflix may not be interested in live sports streaming, but the SVOD behemoth is falling in love with the sports genre.
The service Feb. 22 announced its first partnership with the National Football League for “Quarterback,” a new documentary series that will take a behind-the-scenes look at the 2022 NFL season from the perspective of three quarterbacks: Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, the Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota with the Atlanta Falcons.
The series, which is co-produced by Mahomes’ 2PM Productions, Payton Manning’s Omaha Productions and NFL Films, is slated to launch this summer. For the first time, the NFL allowed quarterbacks to be mic’d up for every single game of a season. The Netflix show will feature some of the players’ biggest moments as Mahomes set an NFL record for total offense on his way to winning the league and Super Bowl MVP awards; Cousins engineered the greatest comeback in NFL history and led the Minnesota Vikings to an NFC North Division title; and Mariota took over as the starting quarterback in his first season with the Atlanta Falcons.
“We aim to give our members unprecedented access to the biggest athletes in the world, telling stories that you can’t see anywhere else,” Brandon Riegg, VP of unscripted and documentary series for Netflix, said in a statement.
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Indeed, Netflix premiered tennis series “Break Point” in January, and golf series “Full Swing” on Feb. 15. Season five of hit series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” premieres Feb. 24. Later this year, Netflix will premiere a behind-the-scenes docuseries from the 2022 Tour de France. The company recently announced a new untitled series at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, featuring exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage of all 32 teams from the tournament, and Six Nations, an exclusive, inside look at the international rugby tournament.
These projects build on Netflix’s overall sports programming success, following previous projects such as “Bill Russell: Legend”; “The Redeem Team”; “Last Chance U”; “The Last Dance”; “Neymar: The Perfect Chaos”; “Untold”; and “Cheer.” In addition to exclusive projects with sports leagues, Netflix this year will also launch an untitled David Beckham series.