Peter Bart: As Hollywood Contracts, The Sports Universe Is Rapidly Expanding In Unexpected Directions
deadline.comLaurence Fishburne is a talented actor who has played a range of characters from Morpheus to Mr. Clean. The new FX series Clipped offers him yet another unexpected role as an NBA coach who employs force and gravitas in guiding players in combat with the racist owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Fishburne has never been an ardent sports fan, nor have I. But recent sports movies have provided a welcome relief from rom-coms, just as the sports pages have been offering a relief from gloomy Hollywood news.
While the studios seem caught up in cutbacks, stories about the sports business are uniformly emblazoned with billion-dollar megadeals and lavish paychecks in the hundreds of millions.
Item: The NBA’s next TV deal is closing in on a precedent-setting price tag of $76 billion over 11 years (details are still being hammered out).
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