The Dallas Cowboys are the latest team to get a major docuseries covering their franchise. And this one comes with a lot of heavy hitters involved. America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, a series with eight 45-minute episodes, will air on Netflix beginning Aug. 19, and it comes from directors Maclain and Chapman Way (the figures behind the Untold documentaries, as well as Kings of Tupelo and Wild Wild Country) and from Skydance Sports in association with NFL Films and Stardust Frames Productions. Here’s a trailer Netflix released Monday:
And here’s Netflix’s synopsis for the series: ” A man who bet it all. A series of calculated risks. A team meticulously designed for greatness. America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys is the definitive story of the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones’ impact on NFL history. What began as a daring purchase led to the assembly of the iconic ‘90s football team–a decade-plus journey, led by Jones’ intrepid business moves, that revolutionized global sports and resulted in three NFL titles. Through first-hand interviews and never-before-seen footage, this series unravels the dramatic twists and turns on the road to the Cowboys becoming the most valuable sports franchise in the world.”
The list of notable figures goes beyond just the Ways. The executive producers here include them, but also David Ellison [the key Skydance figure who’s in the midst of buying CBS parent Paramount Global], Jesse Sisgold, Jon Weinbach, Ross Ketover, Ken Rodgers [a key NFL Films figure], Jessica Boddy, Keith Cossrow, and John Skipper [the significant ex-ESPN, ex-Meadowlark Media figure]. And the list of people interviewed is remarkable, including Jerry Jones, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders, Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, George W. Bush, Phil Knight, and Rupert Murdoch.
The idea of team-specific docuseries has really taken off lately. In the wake of The Last Dance (largely on the very specific 1997-98 Chicago Bulls season, but with some other looks at that franchise’s history), we’ve seen docuseries on the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics, the Boston Red Sox, and more. We haven’t really seen this particular treatment in the NFL, though, beyond NFL Films/NFL Network and/or team-specific efforts. And a project like this on the Cowboys will certainly draw attention, especially with a list of many interviewees who are big media figures in their own right. We’ll see how this one turns out.