On Tuesday, August 5, Netflix released its latest documentary series about college football. Chronicling the “It Just Means More” conference, “SEC Football: Any Given Saturday” showcases 10 programs behind the scenes: the Florida Gators, LSU Tigers, Tennessee Volunteers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Texas A&M Aggies, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Kentucky Wildcats, Mississippi State Bulldogs, and Vanderbilt Commodores.
While speaking with the show’s executive producer on Thursday afternoon, Box To Box Films founder Paul Martin, I was told there is a plan for future seasons. There’s also an active desire for the Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas Longhorns, Georgia Bulldogs, Ole Miss Rebels, Missouri Tigers, and Oklahoma Sooners to get involved.
“We had 10 of the 16 teams, which was a great start. It’s similar to ‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive.’ We didn't have a couple of the teams when we started driving to survive. Obviously, what we do with ‘Full Swing,’ you don't have the full contingent of the PGA tour. So, yeah, we were really happy with the teams that we got and the access we had,” Martin said.
“That is never our decision. We always take the view of, ‘you can't force anyone that doesn't want to be in a partnership,’ for whatever reason. And the reason's always, you know, they're always different. We just take the view that we'll work with people who want to work with us, and the people who don't want to be involved in the show. The door's always open. You know, the door's always open to those conversations.
“We'd love a scenario where there's all 16, but, you know, it doesn't tend to happen like that. It's never really happened like that on any of our shows. There are always people who don't want to do it for very valid reasons. It's never from an unreasonable kind of position. And I think you, in order to participate, you've got to find a reason why you want your school and your organization to be a part of it. And if you can't find that reason, then you shouldn't do it. And certainly, like, on all of our shows, we've never forced anyone, nor could we force anyone to be a part of it when they really don't want to.”
When I asked him about the possibility of branching out into another conference, Martin sounded open to the idea of doing a show on the Big Ten, ACC, or Big 12, but didn’t sound excited about restarting the process of making the relationships and setting up shop at different schools.
“Listen, I think we'd love to. We'd love to do more of this show. We had such a great relationship. We had a great time, and it's also like, these shows are hard to put together, and it's hard. It took us about two years from the first conversation we had with the SEC until (the show’s release). And so, it takes a long time to establish that trust, to establish those relationships. Having been through it once with our friends at the SEC, you know, we'd love to do it again,” Martin told me.
For now, the SEC will be the sole beneficiary of being on the $516 billion streaming juggernaut.