It is unclear whether or not HBO will be able to air Hard Knocks this year, as it’s impossible to know what things will look like in the coming months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If it is able to happen, however, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that HBO will try to do something a little different.
Schefter brings word that both Los Angeles squads, the Chargers and the Rams, are in line to appear on Hard Knocks this year, marking the first time that two teams get featured on the show — the Rams have been on it in the past, while this would mark the first time that the Chargers have gotten onto Hard Knocks. Both are sharing a new stadium during the 2020 season, and as Schefter laid out, that proximity to one another is something that would theoretically make putting two teams on the show a little easier.
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.
Again, it all comes down to the ability to hold a training camp this year, something that is not guaranteed. The possibility of two legitimately interesting teams sharing this stage, though, is a fun one, and it would be cool to get a glimpse into the Chargers in the first year post-Philip Rivers, or the Rams as they look to get past last season’s disappointing campaign and make it back to the Super Bowl.