Changes are coming to the NFL’s reality series, “Hard Knocks,” but what they exactly will be is anyone’s guess.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, an announcement regarding the future of the HBO series will be made at halftime of Thursday’s New York Giants vs. Washington Football Team game.
The series, which follows a different team each year through training camp, began in 2001 has lasted for 17 seasons (with a gap from 2003-06) and featured the Dallas Cowboys in its most recent season this past summer.
The NFL has had difficulty finding teams to participate and in 2013 the league announced that it could force teams to participate if they met certain conditions.
In addition to the difficulty in finding teams, the ratings have suffered in recent years. While the Cowboys helped bring ratings up from the 2020 season that featured the Rams and Chargers, they were still down compared to 2019 when the Raiders — amid the Antonio Brown drama — were on the show.
Listen to sports talk now on Audacy and shop the latest NFL team gear
It is certainly possible an announcement to cancel the series could be coming, but it would seem unusual for the league to highlight this announcement at halftime of a primetime game.
A change in the format, or perhaps even streaming service, are other possibilities.
