HBO Sports To Present A Feature Documentary On The Bishop Sycamore Story, Executive Produced By Michael Strahan And Adam McKay

Chronicling The Outrageous Tale Of The High School Football Team That Wasn't

HBO Sports has acquired the television and streaming rights to a feature documentary chronicling the Bishop Sycamore high school football scandal from Michael Strahan and Constance Schwartz-Morini's SMAC Entertainment, Adam McKay's Hyperobject Industries, Boat Rocker's Matador Content, and The Athletic. The film will debut on HBO and be available to stream on HBO Max in 2022.

On August 29, 2021, the Bishop Sycamore Centurions, a presumed high school football team from Columbus, Ohio took on perennial prep powerhouse IMG Academy. The game was nationally televised on ESPN, and the Centurions lost 58-0, but the final score turned out to be just the beginning of the story.

The blowout caused fans and audiences to question the legitimacy of the Bishop Sycamore program and the activities of now-fired head coach Roy Johnson, revealing one of the most intriguing sagas to cross the world of sports in years.

With exclusive access to Johnson, the documentary will explore two very beguiling questions: What exactly is Bishop Sycamore and who in the world is Roy Johnson?

The untitled HBO Sports film is executive produced by Adam McKay and Todd Schulman for Hyperobject Industries, Michael Strahan, Constance Schwartz-Morini and Ethan Lewis for SMAC Entertainment, Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin and Jack Turner for Boat Rocker's Matador Content, Alex Mather and Ankur Chawla for The Athletic, and Spencer Paysinger for Moore Street Productions.

About SMAC Entertainment

Founded in 2011, SMAC Entertainment is a talent management firm, business incubator and Emmy-nominated production company founded by former NFL strategist and marketing executive Constance Schwartz-Morini and Pro Football Hall of Famer and Emmy Award-winning television host Michael Strahan. In addition to representing globally recognized talent across sports, music and entertainment, SMAC produces a diversified slate of film and television content, with projects setup at primetime cable and broadcast networks including HBO, DIRECTV, Showtime, ABC, CBS, E!, NFL Network, Audience Network, Barstool Sports, Nickelodeon and Prime Video. In addition, SMAC has architected several companies, including Collection and MSX by Michael Strahan, two men's clothing and accessory lines available at Men's Warehouse and JCPenney; MSX by Michael Strahan for NFL as well as Erin Andrews' licensed sportswear collection, WEAR by Erin Andrews. For more information, visit www.smac-ent.com.

About Hyperobject Industries

Hyperobject Industries is a multi-platform production company from Academy-Award winning writer-director-producer Adam McKay. The company's name is a shout-out to environmental philosopher Timothy Morton's use of the term 'hyperobject' and his belief that humankind needs to re-evaluate its relationship with nature as a whole. The Hyperobject Industries team includes McKay's long-time producer Kevin Messick and producers Betsy Koch, Todd Schulman and Maeve Cullinane. Hyperobject Industries' focus is wide ranging from comedies, dramas, horror, documentaries and documentary-series as well as politically charged and challenging subjects with which McKay has become synonymous. Hyperobject Industries develops original podcasts, including "Death at the Wing and Broken: Seeking Justice" with Sony Music Entertainment's Three Uncanny Four Productions. McKay also serves as an executive producer on HBO's "Painting with John" and HBO documentaries "Q: Into the Storm and 537 VOTES." McKay's upcoming comedy, "Don't Look Up" for Netflix, tells the story of two low-level astronomers who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy Earth. "Don't Look Up" stars Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Rob Morgan, Meryl Streep and Tyler Perry amongst others. Other upcoming films projects include "The Menu" starring Anya-Taylor Joy, Nicholas Hoult and Ralph Fiennes for Searchlight Pictures; "FRESH" starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastien Stan from director Mimi Cave with a screenplay from Lauryn Kahn; and "Bad Blood" that will tell the story of Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes with Jennifer Lawrence starring. Television projects include the previously announced HBO drama series "Untitled Lakers Project" and a limited series based on Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown's book about Jeffrey Epstein. McKay and Bong Joon Ho are partnering on an HBO limited series inspired by Bong Joon Ho's Academy Award Best Picture "Parasite." McKay and Messick continue to serve as Executive Producers on HBO's critically acclaimed and Emmy-winning series "Succession."

About Matador Content

Matador Content (a Boat Rocker Company) is a full-service content company based in New York City and Los Angeles. Founded in 2014, the company was acquired by Boat Rocker in 2018 and has produced series for television and streaming platforms, as well as sports and feature documentaries, live event specials, virtual reality content and digital programs across multiple networks. In addition to the Emmy nominated global phenomenon "Lip Sync Battle," Matador's output has shown an impressive range across all platforms and genres - specifically in the scripted space with the Emmy Award-winning original series "The Who Was? Show" (Netflix) and the Apple TV+ series, "Dear... " as well as the documentary space with the Emmy nominated "Banksy Does New York" (HBO), "Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry" (Apple TV+), the Peabody Award nominated "The Rape of Recy Taylor" (The Orchard) and the GLADD Award nominated "Wig" (HBO). Matador's studio based series include Disney Channel's "Fam Jam" as well as Peacock's "The Kid's Tonight Show" with producing partner Jimmy Fallon and his studio, Electric Hot Dog. Matador is currently in production on 11 series for television or streaming platforms including Netflix, Peacock, Disney Channel, HBO, Lifetime, History, Disney+, TBS and the Discovery Channel. For more information, please visit www.matadorcontent.com.

About The Athletic

The Athletic is a global, market-leading, subscription-based sports website. With the largest sports newsroom in the world, The Athletic's more than 450 full-time writers, editors and producers break exclusives, cover the biggest moments, and produce the smartest analysis of more than 200 clubs and teams around the globe. Subscribers have access to more than 1,000 new stories and 150+ podcast episodes published every week. Founded in 2016 by co-founders Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, The Athletic is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, London and Melbourne. For more information and to subscribe, please visit www.theathletic.com.