Our objective was to create original content for LG that connected them to their partnership with the NCAA. The original ask was broad and carried many potential paths. Ultimately, we narrowed it down to an original series rooted in authentic storytelling. The idea was to focus on "lesser-known" rivalry stories in the NCAA and stray away from the larger college sports stories that have been told for decades. Each story focuses on a different region, with different universities, different sports, and balancing men's and women's athletics. By working with the schools, the coaches, the players, and the communities our goal was to shine a light on these incredible stories giving them a platform when they typically haven't had one.
We’ve all heard of the rivalry stories between schools like Duke vs North Carolina or Ohio State vs Michigan, but did you know, that 2 universities in rural South Dakota have had an annual NCAA DII football game fighting over a goldpan trophy for over 150 years? How about the 5 universities sharing 1 single campus in Southern California with one of the most heated tennis rivalries in all of college sports? These are the types of subject matter for each episode of ‘The Rivalries’.
The most important part of our process is establishing a unique and interesting storyline to captivate our audience.
We have held several key considerations for our storylines including the strength of the rivalry story & the historical context within, the diversity of the stories within each rivalry, a gender sports balance, geographic & regional variety, and the community, family, outside perspective & overall involvement. All of these factors come together to tell a complete story. Stories that matter to the athletes, the coaches, the fans, and the communities at large who support them.
By utilizing a small and highly capable field production team, we’ve been able to embed ourselves with these teams to give an up close and personal story behind each rivalry. Access requires trust and trust comes from our non-biased point of view which we deliver with each episode. An insider’s look into modern-day college sports with a history lesson built in. Each story reflects the greatness of the student-athlete and the spirit of high-level competition.
Our process begins with research and that research leads us down several paths of potential stories. We begin to establish relationships with the schools and the coaches to eventually get us access to the players, alumni, and fans. Each story peels back the layers of the onion with a brief history of the two schools, the rivalry story and how it began and how it has evolved in modern times, the current day-to-day regiment with the athletic program, and how the coaches run things in connection to the rivalry, the athletes day-to-day and their emotions and overall connection to the rivalry and sport, as well as the alumni networks, friends and family who support as well.
Field production on this level poses many challenges, especially with this much travel, from travel to weather to crew & equipment resources, etc, but it has been a very enjoyable and fulfilling experience for our team to uncover some amazing stories and bring them to a national spotlight that would typically only exist in smaller regional circles.
Our process ends with closing the circle on a well-balanced story. In sports, there is always a winner and a loser. Nobody wants to watch a documentary of themselves losing so crafting and telling a balanced story that all parties involved are proud to share has been a big success of the show.
One big personal point of pride is the feedback we receive from the coaches and the players after they see the final documentary. We are essentially creating a bit of a time capsule wrapped in deep-rooted regional history that will live on forever. Some of these stories are the oldest in college sports and show no signs of slowing down. It's important to tell these stories.
To date, we have successfully worked with 29 universities nationwide across the NCAA DI, DII, and DIII telling amazing lesser-known stories. The show has gained a following since its pilot production and continues to receive support from the NCAA. It seems that the further we go, the more we start to uncover - with many more incredible stories to tell as we begin season 3.
