Netflix's ‘Court of Gold' sets the standard for sports documentaries in 2025

Yahoo

19-02-2025

Netflix's 'Court of Gold' sets the standard for sports documentaries in 2025
There is a scene in Episode 5 of the sensational new Netflix documentary 'Court of Gold' (debuting this week) that highlights the remarkable access the production team received while covering the Paris Olympics' men's basketball tournament.
Inside the Serbian men's national basketball team's locker room at halftime of its semifinal against the United States, three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić is furiously diagramming a play on a whiteboard.
Using a magic marker, Jokić explains to his Serbian teammates about a two-man play that Steph Curry and Joel Embiid are running against Serbia. He is animated about how Embiid plans to screen for Curry and what Jokic wants to do to stop it. It is the kind of access NBA fans can only dream about.
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'I think if we framed it as 'We're going to shoot your scouting report,' they (Serbia) would be like 'Get out,' ' 'Court of Gold' director Jake Rogal said. 'But we got to a point where we learned how not to be noticed, how to jump in and how to hang back. You're able to capture those moments because you're not noticeable.'
When the year is over, I think 'Court of Gold' will emerge as the year's best sports documentary. It's that good.
Later in that same episode, there is footage of the USA Basketball men's national team coaches — including the Golden State Warriors' Steve Kerr and the Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra — and managing director Grant Hill sitting on the steps outside of Bercy Arena in Paris, enjoying a beer after the incredible comeback win over Serbia.
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The camera pans to LeBron James, sitting on the steps alone, close to the coaches.
Kerr turns to James: 'Want a cold beer?'
James pauses and then says, 'Yeah, I'll take one. I'll take one for sure, absolutely. F—— cheers to y'all.'
Rogal, who was the lead producer on 'The Last Dance' and part of the team that interviewed Michael Jordan for that documentary series, reflected on that moment: 'When teams have a euphoric moment like that Serbia game where they win, the access is amazing because they're happy.'
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'It's almost like they're blinded by their happiness,' he said. 'That was a moment where I don't even think they noticed our cameras were there, and I also don't think they would have cared. They were so happy in that moment that the access is incredible.'
Rogal said that the IOC told the production team the organization could only offer credentials to be in the right places, and that 'from there it's up to the players and the coaches to let you into whatever they want to let you into. That's up to you to work out with them.'
'I know we're strangers,' Rogal said he told the players. 'This is a moment in your life that is cool, and we don't want to take away from that. We want to be additive. We want to capture it so in 20 years, you can show your grandkids this stuff.'
Rogal noted the production team didn't 'ask for everything at once.'
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'You're like, 'Hey, dude, can I stand in that corner today and shoot you on the foul line?' The guy's like, 'Yeah, sure.'
'The next day, you're like, 'Hey, can I stand in that corner and that corner?' And he's like, 'Yeah, go ahead.'
'So you start to build that rapport and let them know I get this is your experience and your story.'
There were four separate production teams, each assigned to the U.S., Canada, Serbia and France. The players that particularly stand out as far as going deep with the filmmakers include Curry, Kevin Durant (who broke down on camera about what playing in the Olympics meant to him), France's Nicolas Batum, Serbia's Bogdan Bogdanović and Canada's Dillon Brooks. There also is a lot of Victor Wembanyama, including his devastation outside the locker room after the gold medal loss to the Americans.
Rogal landed the assignment thanks to the support of Connor Schell, the former ESPN executive who now is the head of his own production company, Words + Pictures, where Rogal works, and Jason Hehir, who directed 'The Last Dance.' Asked how he will judge success, Rogal said if the documentary series can have sustainability beyond this initial run:
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'That means it's speaking to something larger than being time-specific,' Rogal said. 'If people are still watching this thing in three months, given how much content is out there, I'll be excited.'
The United States' 3-1 win over Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off on a rock 'em sock 'em Saturday night in Montreal averaged 4.4 million viewers. Viewership peaked at 5.2 million viewers in the 10:45 quarter-hour. That's the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Final hockey telecast since a Columbus Blue Jackets-Boston Bruins playoff game on NBC in 2019 that averaged 4.5 million.
The company said the game was up 369 percent versus the current average for NHL games on ABC. To put things in perspective: NHL postseason games last year across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS and truTV averaged 1.54 million viewers, per Sports Business Journal. It's an incredible number and all eyes are now on the 8 p.m. ET Thursday rematch on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.
's David Aldridge wrote an excellent piece on the NBA All-Star Game and the underlying reasons why it's become an anachronistic product.
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You don't cancel an event that still brings in millions of conventional viewers — and is a massive business trade show for your sport — but the product Sunday wasn't good (Saturday was better).
I don't expect this to happen, but I would love an All-Star Game weekend featuring six teams broken down as such: Two United States teams, one from Canada, two teams from Europe and one team featuring stars from the rest of the world.
Play it however you want after that, including different competitions. You saw how 'best-on-best' has given the NHL a pop.
Indiana Fever coach and ESPN broadcaster Stephanie White was a guest on my 'Sports Media' podcast. I consider her one of the more interesting people in my world, given her prominent dual roles on and off the court.
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As part of our 45-minute conversation, I asked her if working as a broadcaster has impacted how she deals with the media as a prominent WNBA coach.
'I'd like to think that I've always had a healthy respect for the media and what they do,' White said. 'I'm always a relationship person. But seeing behind the curtain, seeing how difficult the job is, really understanding it on a human level that this is what they do for a living and how they feed their families and that they care about the sport or they wouldn't be covering it, I think there are some coaches who view it as everybody's out to get me kind of thing, and it's not.
'Yes, there's a lot of information that we can find online and in other areas. But hearing it from players and coaches and getting their perspective is so important for the viewer or the listener. I feel like that has helped me get a different perspective and humanize it in a way probably some other other coaches don't.
'Tough questions, tough conversations, it's part of it. I don't always like answering the questions sometimes. None of us do. But I take a breath and think, 'OK, they're just doing their job.' Just answer the question.'
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Some things I read recently that were interesting to me (note there are paywalls here):
More than 3,000 pages of documents reveal how years of betrayals led to a messy court battle that threatens the future of Rupert Murdoch's empire. (Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg / The New York Times)
Love, Abby: UConn Huskies' forever bond with one magical fan. (Sam Borden / ESPN)
Reeves Wiedeman of Vulture has a deep profile of Lorne Michaels and what happens to 'Saturday Night Live' if and when he leaves.
This Medal of Honor recipient became an ace pilot in a day. (Jon Guttman / Miltary Times)
A champion snowboarder who competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics, he pivoted to a life of crime. Today, the FBI says, he's a cocaine dealer with ties to Mexican cartels — and he's on the run. (Jesse Hyde / Rolling Stone)
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The NBA Dunk Contest is just as good as ever. What's changed is the world around it. (Katie Heindl / SB Nation)
You can sign up here for 's weekly sports business newsletter, Money Call, written by Dan Shanoff.
S.N.L. 'Weekend Update': 50 Seasons of Mocking News and Minting Stars. (Dave Itzoff / New York Times)
Seven more massage therapists accuse Ravens' Justin Tucker of inappropriate sexual behavior. (Julie Scharper, Brenna Smith and Justin Fenton / The Baltimore Banner)
A New Spy Unit Is Leading Russia's Shadow War Against the West. (Bojan Pancevski / The Wall Street Journal)
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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