For the first time, "Hard Knocks" is planning to supersize and feature two teams in the same summer: the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers, league sources told ESPN -- if there are training camps.
No announcement is planned this week, as the NFL and NFL Films are focused on the first virtual draft in league history because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But NFL Films, which produces the show with HBO, would be excited to have not one, but two teams volunteer for "Hard Knocks," and it would, in the words of one source, "be special to figure out the creative for a 'supersized' series this summer. "
The announcement had been scheduled to be made at last week's NFL annual meeting, but the meeting was canceled because of the pandemic. NFL Films plans for the show to go on, assuming training camp does.
No one yet knows whether training camp will be a go this summer because of the virus, but NFL Films must prepare as if it will. Being stationed in Los Angeles will give NFL Films the ability to embed itself with two NFL teams, a concept the show has not tried in the past.
But with both teams scheduled to move into the new SoFi Stadium this season, they also will be sharing "Hard Knocks," not just a stadium.
This would not be the Rams' first time on the show; they last did it in 2016. The Chargers never have done the show.