A new football documentary is coming to HBO this month. Warner Media recently announced The Cost of Winning will begin airing on HBO on Tuesday, November 10, and Michael Strahan is one of the executive producers. The Cost of Winning will focus on the St. Frances Academy Panthers football program in Baltimore and it will be “an unlikely and uplifting tale of possibility, perseverance and leadership in the face of adversity,” according to the press release. The docuseries can also be streamed on HBO Max.
“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 executive producer Constance Schwartz-Morini said in a 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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St. Frances Academy is in the heart of a neighborhood riddled with violence, and the football team has become one of the best in the area. In 2018, the program was expelled from their private school league because they were “too good,” the synopsis states. This led to them making their own schedule and playing some of the top teams in the country.
The Cost of Winning is four episodes long, and each episode will last 30 minutes. The synopsis if the first episode states: “Only one week out from their season-opener in Miami, the Panthers prepare for their grueling upcoming national schedule after being forced out of their local Maryland private-school league for being ‘too good.’ Despite lacking adequate facilities, and conditioning on the Baltimore streets, this small school sets out to do the unthinkable.”
While watching The Cost of Winning, viewers will meet head coach Biff Poggi and players Demon Clowney, Chris Braswell and Jonathan Wallace among others. Poggi came to St. Frances and turned them into a national powerhouse after being a program that was winless. The squad won three consecutive Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association championships before being unceremoniously booted from the league in 2018.
Strahan, a co-host on Good Morning America, knows all about being a top football player as he’s a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He played for the New York Giants from 1993-2007 and was named to the Pro Bowl seven times while being selected to the All-Pro Team six times. He helped the Giants win the Super Bowl in his final season.
