Despite a lack of teams willing to participate on Hard Knocks, viewership on HBO hit a mark not seen in over a decade for this season with the New York Jets.
Per a release from Warner Bros. Discovery, Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets averaged 4.4 million viewers for each of its five episodes.
That’s good for the most-watched season of Hard Knocks since 2010, which also featured the Jets.
As the spring dragged on, the NFL couldn’t find a team to volunteer to be on Hard Knocks. In June, momentum began to turn to the Jets being forced to feature on the show. They were eventually announced as the featured team in July, despite objections from the team and its players.
Overall, the team didn’t provide as much access as HBO would have desired (which was fully expected), and that became a major issue for viewers in the final episode when roster cuts were being made.
The good news for the Jets is that after appearing this year, they can’t be forced to appear on Hard Knocks at all over the next ten years. Teams can only be forced to appear on Hard Knocks if they don’t have a first-year head coach, haven’t been on the show in the last ten years, or haven’t made the playoffs in either of the last two seasons.
HBO also launched an in-season version of Hard Knocks in 2021, which has featured the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals over the last two seasons. A featured team, or even if Hard Knocks In Season will return, for the 2023 season has yet to be announced.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.