A new football docuseries, which is executive produced by Michael Strahan, is now streaming on HBO Max. The Cost of Winning debuted on HBO last week and is now available on-demand for fans. The docuseries takes a look at the St. Frances Academy football team in Baltimore and their quest to win a national championship while playing one of the toughest schedules in the country. St. Frances, which is led by head coach Biff Poggi, was kicked out of their conference because of how dominant they have been over the years. St. Frances is a private school where the majority of students are Black. The conference St. Frances used to play in consists of Catholic schools that are predominantly White.
“We are excited to bring the inspiring story of Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy to life on HBO, and to showcase the adversity and challenges the Panthers endured to save their program,” Strahan and Constance Schwartz-Morini, who is also an executive producer, said in a joint statement. “Thanks to the perseverance and dedication of the team at SMAC Entertainment, including Ethan Lewis, and Mike Ferry with The Story Lab, the series reveals the power of sports as a unifying force.”
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The Cost of Winning consists of four 30-minute episodes and the events took place in 2019. One of the players featured in the docuseries is Demon Clowney, a blue-chip recruit who initially committed to LSU. He ended up signing with Ole Miss, and The Cost of Winning reveals the process of his recruitment.
“Ever since he was young, he has been bigger and faster than everybody else,” Sam Poggi, an assistant coach at St. Frances said to Bleacher Report. “And his last name is Clowney. I think it’s hard sometimes for him to know who he should be. Should he be himself or the guy everyone wants him to be? There’s a battle that goes on inside of him.”
Biff Poggi is still the head coach of St. Frances and recently talked to Esquire about the focus of The Cost of Winning being about race. “I think it’s partially about race. It’s easy to say it’s because I’m a controversial, polarizing figure, it’s partially because I’m a controversial, polarizing figure,” he said. “It’s easy to say that people don’t like to lose in sports—everybody wants to win everything.”
