The reality show "Hard Knocks" will offer an inside-the-huddle look at the Jets players, coaches as they prepare for the upcoming season over the next three weeks.
View full sizeThe back of James Duell, a 2009 graduate of the State University College at Cortland works as an intern. wears his NFL Films Hard Knocks T-shirt. HBO/NFL films is in Cortland preparing to film Jets training camp for the HBO reality show "Hard Knocks." Cortland, NY -- At State University College at Cortland, the campus is morphing into a school of hard knocks, but September’s rush of students need not worry. That’s hard knocks, as in the HBO sports-reality television series titled, “Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets.”
This week, a film crew of 25 from NFL Films, which produces the show in collaboration with HBO Sports, is on campus positioning cameras and sound equipment and building sets for the team’s second training camp at Cortland State, which starts Monday.
The Emmy award-winning show will offer an inside-the-huddle look at the Jets players and coaches as they prepare for the upcoming season over the next three weeks. NFL Films will employ 11 cameras — six of them robotic — to shoot some 1,000 hours of video over the next three weeks while chronicling life inside the training camp.
“We’re here to tell you a story no one else can tell. ... What makes the show a success is that it’s real and it’s authentic,” said Steve Trout, the show’s director.
“Hard Knocks” promotes itself as television’s fastest turnaround sports reality show. Every day, once filming starts, couriers hustle more than 25 hours of video to NFL Films headquarters, at Mount Laurel, N.J., to be edited. The show airs Wednesday nights, debuting Aug. 11.
View full sizeJ.P. Ruggiero, a camera rigger for Bexle Broadcast Services, prepares to rig two robotic 360 degree cameras in one of the New York Jets coaches conference rooms at the State University College at Cortland. HBO/NFL films will be filming Jets training camp for the reality show "Hard Knocks." NFL Films and HBO are banking on a Jets roster flush with marquee players like quarterback Mark Sanchez and outspoken head Coach Rex Ryan, coupled with the team’s success last season, to score big television ratings. Last year, “Hard Knocks” averaged 3.4 million viewers to watch the Cincinnati Bengals practice, its highest rating for the show, which is starting its sixth year.
College and local officials hope to score a big payoff with the Jets and “Hard Knocks” in town. Last year, 34,000 visited the campus to watch the team, and they passed about $4.2 million into local restaurants, motels, gas stations and stores, according to a college study. “We’re hoping we can double that,” said college President Erik Bitterbaum, a lifelong Jets fan.
At the very least, Trout said, “Hard Knocks,” would give Cortland and its college national exposure. “We don’t come here to put Cortland on the map, but people will know Cortland from watching ‘Hard Knocks’ that didn’t know Cortland at all,” Trout said.
That probability has Bitterbaum beaming. The increased national exposure would help his school recruit more students and boost alumni pride, he said. “Positive visibility is always marvelous,” Bitterbaum added.
View full sizeProduction assistants for NFL Films Matt Montoyan (kneeling), Steve Klink (on ladder) and Mike La Vancher prepare a small studio interview room at the State University College at Cortland to look like a locker room. The college hosted the Jets’ training camp for the first time last summer and this year landed a three-year contract for the team to train there. Practices run through Aug. 20 and are open to the public at no charge. There is a $5 parking fee. “The partnership we do have with SUNY Cortland I think is outstanding,” Ryan said.
With college approval, the Jets and NFL Films have commandeered the student union building, which sits about a mile or so from the team’s grass practice fields on the west corner of the campus. The Jets have turned the four-story building into a bevy of meeting rooms for coaches and players.
There seems to be a meeting room for every position: quarterbacks, receivers, running backs and linemen, to name just a few.
Meanwhile, Trout’s crew has created a locker room set with six lockers and green carpet on the third floor, positioned robotic cameras and microphones in Ryan’s office and several other team meeting rooms and turned the basement student newspaper office into its sound and video recording room. The newspaper staff left a welcome note and two packages of Oreo cookies for Trout’s staff.
Each practice, several players will be fitted with microphones to document their thoughts, Trout said. “We don’t stage anything,” he added.
Inside Ryan’s office, which is in the student government office, Trout and Dave Malek, a former Syracuse television news cameraman, were discussing where to place some robotic cameras. “I can’t believe they pay me to do this. I get to go to games every Sunday and watch the sport I love,” said Malek, who this month marked his 10th anniversary with NFL Films.
Ryan credited holding last year’s camp at the college with helping his players develop stronger team chemistry and making the playoffs. The Jets lost to the Colts in the American Football Conference title game, and some experts predict the Jets to be Super Bowl contenders this year. “We got out of the gate fast ... and a lot of that was due to the way we came together as a football team during our time in Cortland,” Ryan said.
Trout said story lines on “Hard Knocks” will emerge as the training camp unfolds. The robotic cameras and discreetly placed microphones allow Trout’s crews to capture riveting stories as they happen. “The great thing is that it’s like building a plane in flight. We don’t know where we’re going,” Trout said.
His crews will work nearly around the clock for the next three weeks. It takes about 200 hours of film to make a single one-hour show, Trout said. By contrast, it typically takes 50 hours for a one-hour television show and 100 hours for a movie, he added.
“It’s exhausting, but it’s exhilarating. It’s our Super Bowl,” Trout said.
Contact Scott Rapp at srapp@syracuse.com or 289-4839.