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ESPN to produce ’30 for 30′ documentary on O.J. Simpson’s life

By Will Osgood

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ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports is going to take its chances on an OJ Simpson documentary. 

ESPN, “the worldwide leader in sports”, is famous for many things–its game coverage, its coverage of current topics in sports which often border on ridiculous and in recent years its series 30 for 30, which so happens to be a creation of Grantland chief editor Bill Simmons.

It has regularly been considered a hit. In fact, it has become the creme de la creme of sports documentary series. And now it’s taking a swing at one of the most intriguing, yet conflicted characters in sport–O.J. Simpson.

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The Heisman Trophy winning running back at Southern California, before starring in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, has of course had quite the interesting life following his retirement from the NFL. Much of that story has already been told in a previous 30 for 30 called “June 17, 1994”–which detailed the circumstances of the most famous police chase in American history.

News of the currently untitled project was leaked when one ESPN personality visited the podcast of another. Dan Le Batard interviewed Simmons, the Grantland and 30 for 30 mastermind on his radio show Tuesday, and accidentally spilled the beans on the project.

Simmons was okay with the accidental leak, after Le Batard asked if he was breaking any code.

The reality, however, is that ESPN has been working on the project for some time now already, estimated at a year already.

It is expected that the new project will focus on Simpson’s life surrounding the 1994 episode, likely dating back to his time at the University of Southern California and then tracing his entire professional football career and the time subsequently after his retirement from the NFL to the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman, which took place on June 12, 1994–five days prior to his fleeing in a white Ford Bronco, which became the most famous police chase ever.

Undoubtedly some of the same footage, and some of the story told in the original documentary will be used, just ESPN did not shy away from using some of the same footage in their sequel to The U. 

Either way, it promises to be a fascinating project, one that will likely gain the eyes of more than sports fans, as who among us 25-years-old or greater can forget the chase and the nationally televised trial that ensued?

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