There is no denying that since Jim Harbaugh arrived in Ann Arbor back in December of 2014 (wow, it’s been that long already?), the University of Michigan football program has been among the more polarizing and talked about teams in the country, college or pro.
Harbaugh had brought back an excitement and limelight factor that had been missing at Michigan for several years. Those outside the world of football have taken notice, Amazon being one of them.
Amazon Prime is set to release the latest installment of their All or Nothing series revolving around the Wolverines. It will be made for public viewing come early April.
The @UMichFootball experience changes you. #AllorNothing: The Michigan Wolverines kicks off April 6, only on Prime Video. pic.twitter.com/1YHNkFwgUP
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) March 20, 2018
It’s really the first real and thorough inside look at the Michigan football program and its inner workings run by Harbaugh and his staff. The news of the series surrounding the Wolverines was first announced back in September. Harbaugh shared his thoughts when the news came out, saying that they “welcome judgment.”
“We are proud to partner with Amazon Prime Video in documenting our University of Michigan student-athletes’ daily experiences and lifelong lessons learned both on the football field and in the classroom,” said Harbaugh. “We welcome judgment! We embrace this opportunity to showcase our 2017 University of Michigan football team to a vast audience around the world.”
Michigan was paid north of $2 million from the trio of production companies, which includes the Big Ten Network, for campus and program access and some never-before-seen sneak peeks of the highly revered football team. That amount went towards renovations to be done on Schembechler Hall, which is projected to finish some time by winter of 2019. The contract signed to air the series included rights for the university to review and edit “any depiction that would constitute an actionable defamation or false light depiction of the university, the team or any university individual.”
This will be the third season in the All or Nothing series for Amazon Prime, the first involving a college program. Their first two seasons chronicled the Arizona Cardinals in 2015 and then the Los Angeles Rams in 2016; their first season in L.A. since relocating from St. Louis. The sports documentary series is said to have similarities to HBO’s Hard Knocks franchise.
Amazon also has plans to include future series involving the Dallas Cowboys, the Manchester City soccer club, and the New Zealand national rugby team.
Michigan in 2017 finished with an 8-5 record overall, the worst mark through Harbaugh’s first three seasons. After opening the year as a top-15 team in the polls and reaching as high as No. 7 ahead of their annual matchup with Michigan State, the Wolverines went just 5-4 in conference play and ended the year on a three-game slide. Despite having an elite defense throughout the year, Michigan struggled to garner any sort of consistent play on offense.
