Hard Knocks: Los Angeles debuts August 11

As you can plainly see in the photo above with Hard Knocks and Jeff Fisher, it has not been very long since the HBO show featured the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams were featured on the show in 2016 when they moved to Los Angeles and the cameras are back to detail the shared home experience at SoFi Stadium between the Rams and Chargers.

As HBO announced on Thursday, the upcoming season Hard Knocks: Los Angeles will premiere on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 10 p.m. and will finish on Sept. 8. Of course, this is also probably contingent on how the offseason and preseason resume amid the coronavirus pandemic but perhaps HBO will push through five episodes regardless.

Head coaches Anthony Lynn and Sean McVay had this input on the Hard Knocks experience:

Los Angeles Chargers Head Coach Anthony Lynn said, “Having been part of Hard Knocks before when I was with the New York Jets, my biggest takeaway from that whole experience was that you get out of it what you put into it. There’s a reason that season was probably the most popular Hard Knocks ever. If you’re going to do a show, do it right. You can’t fake it. We didn’t have a problem providing access because we built a relationship with the crew. There was a mutual trust that exists to this day with those people, and many of them will actually be working on this year’s show. Broadcasting your internal business all over the world isn’t something you regularly want to do, but in a year with as many challenges as this one has had, I’m glad we can be part of bringing football back to the fans this summer.”

“We are looking forward to having Hard Knocks in our camp this year,” said Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean McVay. “Hard Knocks always offers a rare opportunity for our fans to see our players’ hard work to prepare for the season, as well as gives them a peek behind the curtain to observe these guys off the field, too. This year will be special because the show will also get an unprecedented look at SoFi Stadium, Stan Kroenke’s vision for professional football in L.A.”

While pretty much every other season of Hard Knocks could focus on players on the fringe who are fighting for the final roster spot and quirky habits of popular players and coaches, 2020 offers a new set of opportunities to explore. As of June 18, there is no guarantee of what the NFL season will look like and if there will be any delays. There have been reports that the preseason could be cut in half, so what could that mean for a show that mostly features the lead-up to and fallout of four preseason games?

The season will obviously also have plenty of attention on the debut of SoFi Stadium though nobody can guarantee its completion by the expected date as at least nine workers have tested positive for coronavirus. There have also not been any reports of delays either.

And with many expected to protest before or during games — which coincidentally began with Colin Kaepernick during the 2016 preseason, same as when the Rams were last featured on Hard Knocks — outspoken players like Rams defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day may also get the opportunity to voice their thoughts and opinions through the program.

Bill Williamson wrote up three potential storylines back in April when the teams were unofficially announced.

For all intents and purposes, it looks as though Hard Knocks — and in some sense the Rams — will be back in less than a month.