Keepers of the Flame: NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media

Conclusion. The Persistence and Obsolescence of NFL Films

Conclusion The Persistence and Obsolescence of NFL Films We’re [NFL Films] prepared to continue as sons and daughters of Steve Sabol and as grandsons and granddaughters of Ed Sabol. —Ken Rodgers, NFL Films Producer NFL Films will silently fade away into the western sun, narrated by John Facenda, with music by Sam Spence. —Steve Sabol1 DespitetheirincreasedscarcityonvenueslikeESPNandNFLNetwork,NFL Films’ traditional aesthetic practices and the values they convey circulate independently of the company’s depictions of pro football. Throughout NFL Films’ history a diverse range of clients has licensed its content and contracted its narrators to inflect subject matter with the epic drama it famously attaches to the league. Others have commissioned it to create segments and full-length films similar to its moving football documentaries. Hollywood production companies have hired NFL Films to shoot second unit action footage; NBC recruitedittohelphumanizethenetwork’scoverageofthe1988and1992SummerOlympicGames ;andTheUniversityofNotreDameconscriptedittobuild anepichistoryofitsfootballprogram—WakeUptheEchoes:AHistoryofNotre 176 Conclusion Dame Football (1982)—similar to those it created for the NFL in documentaries like The History of Pro Football (1983), 75 Seasons (1994), and The Green Bay Packers—A Complete History (2003).2 Morerecently,Germanautomobile manufacturer Audi hired NFL Films to glorify its auto racing team’s 2008 and 2011 victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Truth in 24 (2009) and Truth in 24 II: Every Second Counts (2012) use orchestral scores, intense narration by gravelly voiced action film star Jason Statham, slow motion, and wireless microphones to depict Le Mans—in typical NFL Films fashion—as anevent“wherecareersaremadeandlegendsareborn.”“Thepeoplewhogrew upwithusarethemoversandshakersnow,”boastedSteveSabolofNFLFilms’ frequentworkforoutsideclients.“TheywantsomeofthemagicofNFLFilms.”3 In 1979 NASA hired NFL Films to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Apollo 11’s mission to the moon. The Greatest Adventure: The Story of Man’s Voyage to the Moon, which initially aired on PBS and features an original Sam Spence score and narration by Orson Welles, depicts the 1960s U.S. space program as a group of masculine underdogs that banded together to overcome political adversity, technological difficulties, and the dangers of space travel to achieve an unprecedented feat. The film’s opening sequence displays slowmotion ,close-upshots(culledfromNASA’svastfilmarchive)ofrocketsgracefully flying through the heavens that mirror NFL Films’ tight on the spiral sequences. At another point, the documentary features astronauts suspended in space along with Spence’s stirring score and Welles’s emphatic reading of JohnMagee’ssentimentalaviationpoem“HighFlight”(1941),whichdescribes the sky as “the untrespassed sanctity of space” and likens flying to “slip[ping] thesurlybondsofearth”and“touch[ing]thefaceofGod.”The Greatest Adventure follows the same structure as NFL Films’ documentaries on championship seasons, using its familiar format to dramatize the Cold War “space race” through a nationalistic lens. This, according to Sabol, is precisely what NASA hiredNFLFilmstodo.Heclaimsthegovernmentagencyaskedhiscompanyto “make when Neil Armstrong plants the flag on the moon like when the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl.”4 After viewing the film, Apollo 11 crewmember Buzz Aldrin reportedly claimed that if NASA had NFL Films working for it full-time, the government would never dare cut its budget.5 Like NFL Films’ work for Hollywood, NBC, Notre Dame, Audi, and others, The Greatest Adventure suggests the company’s signature conventions—even when they do not represent pro football or sports—compose a recognizable framework that imbues subject matter with the drama, heroism, and nostalgia NFL Films uses to sell the league. 177 Conclusion A similarly diverse collection of productions parody NFL Films to provide subject matter with a tongue-in-cheek sense of grandeur. For instance, during the 1996 Super Bowl Nike unveiled a series of “Pee Wee Football: The Year in Review”commercialsthatprovideanNFLFilms–inspiredtreatmenttoyoung boys barely large enough to keep their balance while wearing full pads. One of themfocusesonJavelle“TheBull”Cooks,whomnarratorHarryKalas—hired for the spot with NFL Films’ blessing—describes as “batter[ing] his way goalward like a Packard 8 in a demolition derby” as cymbals crash and groundlevelslow -motionfootagedisplaysthepint-sizedrunningbackweavingaround opponents.6 “Number 30 is not a beautiful runner, he is a powerful runner,” Kalas proclaims. “But in the end, his power is beautiful to behold.” Facenda uttered the same lines to deify O.J. Simpson in 1980’s Legends of the Fall. The Nike commercial transforms the statement from heroic to humorous by using it to showcase a boy who is glaringly different from the men these scripts—in combination with NFL Films’ other conventions—typically glorify. Along slightly different lines, a 1987 Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Joe Montana included the short parody...