HBO’s “Hard Knocks” has its team, and a debut date.
“Training Camp With the Atlanta Falcons” will debut on Aug. 5 at 10 p.m. The season finale will run on Sept. 2.
A 30-person NFL Films crew will be at the Falcons’ training camp at team headquarters in Flowery Branch, Ga., shooting more than 1,500 hours of footage over the course of the series.
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The Falcons have earned a postseason playoff berth in four of the six years that current Head Coach Mike Smith has been at the helm. And there’s more good news for the NFC South team: each of the last four teams featured on “Hard Knocks” has improved its win-loss record in the regular season immediately following the training camp presentation.
Last year’s five-part series on the Cincinnati Bengals averaged 3.6 million viewers per episode.
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“We are thrilled that the ninth edition of the ‘Hard Knocks’ series will spotlight the Atlanta Falcons,” Ken Hershman, president, HBO Sports, said in a statement. “It’s exciting to feature a team, a franchise and a city for the first time on ‘Hard Knocks.’ We are grateful to Coach Mike Smith and the entire organization for agreeing to participate and look forward to what we expect to be one of the most exciting seasons in ‘Hard Knocks’ history.”
“We are excited about the opportunity to give our fans a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to prepare an NFL team for the rigors of a 16-game regular season and beyond,” added Falcons owner and chairman Arthur M. Blank.
“The series will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the competition between players as we build our roster and prepare for the season,” promised Coach Smith. “We are looking forward to the start of camp in late July.”