• 14
    watchers
  • 59
    plays
  • 195
    collected

Level Playing Field: Season 1

Miniseries 2021
TV-14

  • 2021-09-14T04:00:00Z on HBO
  • 30m
  • 2h (4 episodes)
  • United States
  • English
  • Documentary
Each of the four episodes tells a different story from the world of sports to reveal a broader social inequality impacting all of us. In one case, that means following the plight of an NCAA student-athlete to understand what it can tell us about American labor policy - policy that is often shaped to serve the interests of employers in all sorts of industries. In another, that means revisiting a debate over midnight basketball in the 1990s to understand how racial politics warped a debate over funding a youth sports program.

4 episodes

Series Premiere

2021-09-14T04:00:00Z

1x01 Midnight Basketball

Series Premiere

1x01 Midnight Basketball

  • 2021-09-14T04:00:00Z30m

Episode 1 investigates the intersection of sports, race, and social policy through a look at “Midnight Basketball” – the innovative program started in Glenarden, Maryland in 1986 to provide a haven for at-risk youths and help curb rising crime rates in the area.

2021-09-21T04:00:00Z

1x02 Misclassified

1x02 Misclassified

  • 2021-09-21T04:00:00Z30m

Episode 2 focuses on the events that precipitated the NCAA’s creation of the term “student-athlete,” connecting that history to a wider modern trend in corporate America: avoiding legally classifying workers as “employees” to escape the fiscal responsibilities that come along with that designation.

2021-09-28T04:00:00Z

1x03 Down the Backstretch

1x03 Down the Backstretch

  • 2021-09-28T04:00:00Z30m

Episode 3 explores how the shift in United States immigration policy towards Central America during the Trump administration impacted the horse racing industry. With laborers from Latin America making up a predominant number of backstretch workers at racetracks across the country, the “sport of kings” – typically associated with big money trainers and owners – suddenly found itself with a shortage of some of its most overlooked and undervalued figures.

2021-10-05T04:00:00Z

1x04 The Assist

1x04 The Assist

  • 2021-10-05T04:00:00Z30m

Episode 4 explores the intersection of sports and politics through an examination of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream’s landmark role in the election of Senator Raphael Warnock and the ongoing fight against voter suppression in Georgia. The Dream players’ impassionate campaign against then-Georgia senator – and team owner – Kelly Loeffler made an undeniable imprint on one of the most closely watched senate races of all time.

Loading...