Is Ballers Based On A True Story? Real Inspirations Behind The Rock’s NFL Show
Summary
- Ballers is not based on a true story, but it uses real-life athletes and personnel to legitimize its projection as a series based on reality.
- The characters in Ballers share similarities to real NFL players’ stories, drawing inspiration from their lives and experiences.
- HBO was able to use real NFL team names and logos in Ballers without needing written consent from the NFL, as long as it didn’t defame the league.
HBO’s Ballers depicts a fictionalized yet realistic representation of the lives of professional NFL athletes, agents, and front-office management. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as a former professional football player that becomes a prominent financial manager for athletes working mostly with active NFL players. Ballers features a number of real-life professional athletes that contribute to the notion that the popular series is based on a true story. Major athletes ranging from NBA star Steph Curry, former NFL wide receiver Julian Edelman, and prominent sports insider Jay Glazer all appear on the celebrated HBO show.
One of the best football TV shows of all time, Ballers provides a fascinating inside look behind the curtain of elite athletes and the powerful players that bring their trades and endorsement deals to fruition. Ballers is essentially the Entourage of the sports world, combining completely fictional protagonists with real-life celebrities, replacing movie stars and famous directors found throughout the latter with legendary athletes and other significant personnel of the professional sports world. Spencer Strasmore (The Rock) and his partner Joe Krutel (Rob Corddry) are tasked with the complicated job of representing high-profile clients with big egos and even bigger expectations.
Ballers Is Not Based On A True Story
Despite the apparent authenticity found within the Ballers universe, the show is not based on a true story. Rather, the show employs real-life players, teams, and other personnel to legitimize its projection as a series based on reality, when in fact it is not. While some similarities can be drawn from the fictionalized characters in the HBO series to real-life athletes, the show does not literally depict the true life events of any particular person, group, or team, even with regard to those who appear in cameos. Interestingly, both The Rock and star John David Washington, who plays fictional NFL player Ricky Jerret in the show, played at the collegiate or professional level.
Ballers’ Characters Share Similarities To Real NFL Players’ Stories
Ballers does indirectly reference some of the real-life situations of major athletes such as Drew Brees and Odell Beckham Jr., making the show loosely inspired by some aspects of the lives of actual NFL players. Strasmore’s character, for example, is influenced by Brees, Warren Sapp, and LaDainian Tomlinson, all former NFL players who focused on guiding the next generation of athletes after their retirement. Sapp actually played with Dwayne Johnson on the same college team, replacing The Rock after an injury left him sidelined and changed the course of his professional football career.
The fictional Strasmore also shared similarities with the real-life Chafie Fields, who actually became a prominent sports agent after playing in the NFL and at Penn State University. Ricky Jerret’s character draws real-life comparisons to controversial NFL athletes such as Odell Beckham Jr., Terrell Owens, and Johnny Manziel. Jerret’s consistent off-the-field behaviors have created obstacles in his professional football career despite being heavily talented. Real-life NFL superstars such as Beckham Jr. and Owens, who are also wide receivers, are clearly similar to Jerret even if they aren’t meant to be direct representations.
How Ballers Is Able To Use Real NFL Team Names & Logos
Ballers uses the real NFL team names and logos in its show despite the fact that they never got written consent from the NFL. According to Insider, HBO could legally use the NFL’s official logo, teams, and likeness as long as the show did not depict the NFL in an inaccurate negative light. The NFL’s trademarked logo and team attributes are considered intellectual property that doesn’t require specific licenses to use in fictionalized or documentary-style entertainment as long as the content does not defame the NFL and its various organizations. In fact, HBO did not even have to ask for the NFL’s permission to use their logo and team because there is no legal necessity or policy requiring them to do so.
After Ballers was released in 2015, the NFL never did anything about the show’s use of its intellectual property. The HBO show mostly uses the NFL and its teams to add to its authenticity and does not go out of its way to offer defamatory commentary about the league or its teams, making it completely legal. HBO also didn’t have to deal with what the major networks constantly do every NFL season, which is broadcasting rights. Ballers only used the perceived world of the NFL to help tell its fictionalized story and was not in any way attempting to market itself as ‘NFL canon’ material, having no impact on the actual NFL, its teams, or its players.
Source: Insider
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