More than two weeks ago, when the media first got a look at the early episodes of HBO’s new Dwayne Johnson vehicle dubbed Ballers, neither the NFL nor the Dolphins had anything to say about the use of the NFL team names and logos -- including most prominently the name and logo of the Dolphins. Now that the show has debuted, the question is whether the league or the team will now have anything to say.
Former Dolphins coach Don Shula, who made a cameo appearance in the pilot with former Dolphins running back Larry Csonka on the boat of the fictional Dolphins coach, had this to say to the character played by John David Washington, son of Denzel: “You’re an asshole.” While the NFL and/or the Dolphins presumably won’t opt for profanity, they may at least be thinking something along those lines based on the depiction of NFL players in the opening episode.
And it doesn’t get much better in the next three episodes.
HBO believes it legally can use the names and logos, which gives the show a degree of realism that films like Any Given Sunday and The Replacements lacked. But a failure of the NFL to enforce trademarks and copyrights could undermine those rights in the future, which could force the league and/or the team to take action against HBO even if it would prefer not to.
Apart from any legal questions, HBO and the NFL enjoy a business relationship through the Hard Knocks series. So if the NFL lets HBO slide a dozen years after the NFL bullied ESPN into scrapping a fictional series that didn’t infringe on NFL team names or logos, here’s hoping ESPN immediately green lights Season Two of Playmakers.
