Viewers Will Get an Exclusive, All-Access Look Into the High-Stakes Operations of Four NFL Teams & the League’s 2023 Draft Headquarters in Kansas City During One of the Most Significant Professional Sports Moments of the Year
Roku has greenlit an untitled Roku Original documentary feature focused on the three days of the NFL Draft from Skydance Sports and produced by NFL Films for The Roku Channel, it was announced today. The plan is for this to be an annual event on the platform.
NFL Films cameras were given access to the high-pressure and high-stakes draft rooms where league teams must make choices that will not only define their upcoming seasons, but also change the lives of future players forever.
The documentary feature was shot throughout all three days of the 2023 NFL Draft weekend in Kansas City, behind-the-scenes in the players green room, as well as several team headquarters, with reporters, broadcast talent and key league personnel including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The four featured teams are the Carolina Panthers, who selected Bryce Young with the first pick of the draft; the Indianapolis Colts, who chose fellow quarterback Anthony Richardson with the fourth pick of the first round; the Dallas Cowboys, whose selection of running back Deuce Vaughn – the son of longtime team scout Chris Vaughn – in the sixth round became one of the draft’s most memorable moments; and the Jacksonville Jaguars, one of the league’s most active teams on the third and final day of a historically frenetic draft.
“It’s an honor to partner with NFL Films and Skydance Sports to give our streamers first-time, unprecedented access to the excitement, anticipation and emotion of the NFL Draft,” said Brian Tannenbaum, Head of Originals, Roku Media. “As we expand our original sports content offering, Roku Originals remains committed to sharing authentic stories, from world-class partners, only on The Roku Channel.”
“At NFL Films, we take great pride in taking fans to places they have never been through dramatic, high-stakes storytelling,” said Ross Ketover, Senior Executive, NFL Films. “We also seek to bring our very best original programming to new partners and new platforms in the US and all over the world. This project with our new partners at Roku and Skydance Sports promises to do just that, and fulfills our longstanding dream of taking audiences inside one of the most special and consequential events on the sports calendar.”
“The NFL Draft is one of the great American spectacles and such a singular setting for documentary storytelling,” said Jon Weinbach, President, Skydance Sports. “This is a fantastic project and we’re enormously excited about bringing fans and viewers into the NFL’s most sacred spaces on one of the most anticipated days in sports. With our great partners at NFL Films, we’re thrilled to create the first of many premium sports programs for Roku’s massive audience.”
Executive producers for NFL Films are Ross Ketover, Pat Kelleher and Keith Cossrow, and for Skydance Sports are David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold and Jon Weinbach. Producers are Erik Powers and Pat Harris of NFL Films, and Dan Marks and Lauren Gaffney for Skydance Sports.
In addition to bringing viewers the brand-new documentary, The Roku Channel has also added The NFL Channel to its Live TV Guide. The around-the-clock channel provides hundreds of hours of curated, official programming from NFL Films and NFL Media, including classic game replays, documentaries and originals.
About The Roku Channel
The Roku Channel is the exclusive home of Roku Originals. From award-winning scripted entertainment and engaging documentaries to new breakout unscripted series, Roku Originals gives viewers free access to bold, fresh entertainment from the biggest names in Hollywood.
Launched in 2017, The Roku Channel is the home of free and premium entertainment on the Roku platform. In Q4 2022, The Roku Channel reached U.S. households with an estimated 100 million people. The Roku Channel was a top 5 channel on the Roku platform by active account reach and streaming hour engagement in Q1 2023. Today, The Roku Channel features a diverse lineup of more than 80,000 free movies and programs and more than 350 free live linear television channels in the U.S. It licenses and distributes content from more than 250 partners.
Roku is a registered trademark of Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries. Trade names, trademarks, and service marks of other companies appearing in this press release are the property of their respective holders.
About NFL Films
NFL Films is widely recognized as the most honored filmmakers in Sports, and continues to produce innovative franchises and documentaries across multiple networks and platforms, including Hard Knocks on HBO, seven 30 for 30 films on ESPN, Peyton’s Places on ESPN+, soon to be released Quarterback on Netflix and additional premium programming on Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+, MGM+, Fox, NBC, CBS and NFL Network. With 136 Sports Emmy Awards to its credit, NFL Films remains a gold standard in premium sports content, providing an elevated and connected viewer experience with unprecedented access to the sport of professional football.
About Skydance Sports
Initially launched in 2021 as a division of Skydance Media, Skydance Sports has quickly become the preeminent studio for leagues, teams, elite athletes and A-List Hollywood talent seeking to produce premium, sports-related entertainment. Most recently, the studio released its first scripted project with the critically acclaimed film Air, directed by Ben Affleck and starring Affleck, Matt Damon and Viola Davis, about the birth of the Air Jordan Brand. The studios’ first release, Good Rivals, was nominated for “Outstanding Documentary Series” at the Sports Emmy Awards. Last year, Skydance Sports and the NFL formed a joint venture whereby the former serves as a multi-sports studio to create premium programming across unscripted and scripted genres.
