The Minister of Defense

When NFL superstar Barry Sanders vanished at the height of his career, he left the NFL world in shock. He was still in his prime, chasing the all-time NFL rushing record when he boarded a flight to England and never stepped foot on the field again. Now, 24 years later, Barry retraces his steps through the streets of London to finally confront the mystery.

Relive all the glory from the Buccaneers' second championship season—from their final 8-game winning streak, to winning three straight road playoff games, before returning home to the Crowning Glory of Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium.

Despite having just 40,000 residents and limited financial resources, the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns have been able to compete at the highest level of football in all of Europe. But as more money floods into the sport, coaches and fans must face the question: has this team become a relic of the past or can their remarkable culture propel them beyond the constraints of reality?

The NFC champion New York Giants and the AFC champion New England Patriots meet for the championship of the National Football League.

Documentary traces the history of Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Covers the earliest days of football at the university, to early concepts for a stadium, World War I, honoring the true Fighting Illini and the first games at the arena built in the early 1920's. Historical film and photographs are mixed with interviews from noted Illinois football players, architects, historians, contractors, veterans and their families, college marching band directors, newspaper reporters and broadcasters.

This MGM Oddity features the 1933 National Football League champion Chicago Bears. The team demonstrates various plays, which are shown first in real time, then in slow motion.

In 1983 the upstart United States Football League (USFL) had the audacity to challenge the almighty NFL. The new league did the unthinkable by playing in the spring and plucked three straight Heisman Trophy winners away from the NFL. The 12-team USFL played before crowds that averaged 25,000, and started off with respectable TV ratings. But with success came expansion and new owners, including a certain high profile and impatient real estate baron whose vision was at odds with the league’s founders. Soon, the USFL was reduced to waging a desperate anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL, which yielded an ironic verdict that effectively forced the league out of business. Now, almost a quarter of a century later, Academy Award-nominated and Peabody Award-winning director Mike Tollin, himself once a chronicler of the league, will showcase the remarkable influence of those three years on football history and attempt to answer the question, “Who Killed the USFL?”

In 1982, the Raiders and owner Al Davis captivated black and Latino fans with swagger and charisma that matched the rapidly changing city.

In late March of 1984, a moving company secretly packed up the Baltimore Colts’ belongings and its fleet of vans sneaked off in the darkness of the early morning. Leaving a city of deeply devoted fans in shock and disbelief. What caused owner Robert Irsay to turn his back on a town that was as closely linked to its team as any in the NFL? Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson, himself a long-standing Baltimore Colts fanatic, will probe that question in light of the changing relationship of sports to community. Through the eyes of members of the Colts Marching Band, Levinson will illustrate how a fan base copes with losing the team that it loves.

In 1981, college athletic recruiting changed forever as a dozen big-time football programs sat waiting for the decision by a physically powerful and lightning-quick high school running back named Marcus Dupree. On his way to eclipsing Herschel Walker’s record for the most touchdowns in high school history, Dupree attracted recruiters from schools in every major conference to his hometown of Philadelphia, Miss. More than a decade removed from being a flashpoint in the civil-rights struggle, Philadelphia was once again thrust back into the national spotlight. Dupree took the attention in stride, and committed to Oklahoma. What followed, though, was a forgettable college career littered with conflict, injury and oversized expectations. Eight-time Emmy Award winner Jonathan Hock will examine why this star burned out so young and how he ultimately used football to redeem himself.

Throughout the 1980s, Miami, Florida, was at the center of a racial and cultural shift taking place throughout the country. Overwhelmed by riots and tensions, Miami was a city in flux, and the University of Miami football team served as a microcosm for this evolution. The image of the predominantly white university was forever changed when coach Howard Schnellenberger scoured some of the toughest ghettos in Florida to recruit mostly black players for his team. With a newly branded swagger, inspired and fueled by the quickly growing local Miami hip hop culture, these Hurricanes took on larger-than-life personalities and won four national titles between 1983 and 1991. Filmmaker Billy Corben, a Miami native and University of Miami alum, will tell the story of how these “Bad Boys” of football changed the attitude of the game they played, and how this serene campus was transformed into “The U.”

From 1981-1984, a small private school in Dallas owned the best record in college football. The Mustangs of Southern Methodist University were riding high on the backs of the vaunted "Pony Express" backfield. But as the middle of the decade approached, the program was coming apart at the seams. Wins became the only thing that mattered as the University increasingly ceded power of the football program to the city's oil barons and real estate tycoons and flagrant and frequent NCAA violations became the norm. In 1987, the school and the sport were rocked, as the NCAA meted out "the death penalty" on a college football program for the first and only time in its history. SMU would be without football for two years, and the fan base would be without an identity for 20 more until the win in the 2009 Hawaii Bowl. This is the story of Dallas in the 1980's and the greed, power, and corruption that spilled from the oil fields onto the football field and all the way to the Governor's Mansion.

A documentary examines the claims the Tuohy family have made about adopting Oher for over a decade, casting scrutiny on the conservatorship they put in place which has now been terminated by a judge. Oher’s litigation with the Tuohys continues, with the latter filing a sworn document on November 8 that they paid Oher more than $138,000 in profits from the film. Oher is expected to file any counterclaims by the end of November.

An independently produced sports documentary on the career of O.J. Simpson, (#32) the upcoming running back for the Buffalo Bills football team.

Pat Tillman never thought of himself as a hero. His choice to leave a multimillion-dollar football contract and join the military wasn't done for any reason other than he felt it was the right thing to do. The fact that the military manipulated his tragic death in the line of duty into a propaganda tool is unfathomable and thoroughly explored in Amir Bar-Lev's riveting and enraging documentary.

An immersive, time-capsule style film chronicling the controversial Heisman race that unfolded at the center of an unforgettable season.