Michigan football may not be must-see TV on Amazon again this season

The Michigan athletic department’s budget proposal for the 2019 fiscal year revealed one missing source of revenue that was present this past year: a video series on the football team.

In 2017, Amazon produced a season of its sports documentary series "All or Nothing" that focused on the Wolverines. The series followed Michigan from its trip to Italy in Spring 2017 all the way through an 8-5 season this past fall.

Athletic director Warde Manuel said the omission from the budget proposal isn’t an indication that there won’t be another TV series. It’s just an indication that there haven’t been any discussion about continuing the series.

“We haven’t been approached about doing it again, we haven’t reached out about doing it again,” Manuel said Thursday afternoon following the university’s monthly Board of Regents meeting. “I think they’re evaluating everything, so we’ll see.”

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Earlier this spring, head coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters that another season of the Amazon series was possible.

Manuel said he hasn’t talked to Harbaugh about the series. Manuel also hasn’t watched it yet — “Something about living it and not having to watch it,” was the explanation he gave — though he has heard plenty of positive feedback.

“The reaction that I’ve heard from our fanbase is that people really enjoyed the inside look at the program, the coaches, the student-athletes, what it takes on a daily basis to be a student-athlete in this particular sport of football, but it’s a reflection of what many of our student-athletes deal with throughout the year,” Manuel said. “So I think that piece of it was very positive. And I haven’t really heard any negative comments about the series itself. I think it was well-done. Every comment I’ve had says people really enjoyed it.

“It was well-done by the production company, and the student-athletes comported themselves in a manner by which people were proud that they were representing our program. The coaches did as well. Those kind of things are all that you want to hear, regardless of record. Obviously, you want to win more games, you want to win them all, but regardless of that, you want people to say that about your program.”

After the series was taped and released, Manuel heard “a little bit” of feedback from players on the team.

Addressing any possible concerns over how often players were filmed and on camera, Manuel said it was something they might be used to.

“Sometimes our players have cameras in their face quite a bit,” Manuel said. “You add this, them being around at practices as well, and not just after practice, it’s another layer. But whether we’re doing an Amazon series or not, there are cameras running all day during practice.”

A film crew followed Michigan on its spring break trip to Paris this spring, but Manuel said not to take it as a sign of another TV season.

“Last year they were in Italy before we had reached an agreement,” Manuel said. “That doesn’t signal anything.”

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