The Very Best Sports Reality TV Shows

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The Very Best Sports Reality TV Shows

Reality TV is big business. They began as social experiment TV, but contestants in some of the biggest titles around the world now use these shows as a stepping-stone to celebrity and stardom. There are numerous shows featuring celebrities that owe their entire fame to reality TV.

There seems no slowing down in the popularity of reality television – and now sports have started to catch on to its power. There has always been a slight crossover of sports, reality TV, and documentary television – as some of the shows in this article will prove. But in recent years, sports, leagues, and entire organizations, have realized what a marketing tool these programs can be.

We now have sports teams and players who are recognized around the world thanks largely to their featuring on a reality TV show. We thought it was about time that we profile some of the very best sports reality TV/documentary series shows – so you can find your own new favorite sport or athlete.

Break Point

There are some sports and leagues, like football’s NFL and soccer’s EPL, that dominate the sports media. Although you can watch just about any sports event these days, it is tough for smaller sports to get a look in. A reality TV show following some of the players is a great way to get a new kind of following,

Break Point, a Netflix show following young tennis players as they compete in some of the biggest events around the world, is a perfect example of a sport trying to find a new and bigger audience. Initial signs have been positive and a second season was swiftly commissioned after the success of the first.

Hard Knocks

Just because the NFL is so dominant, it doesn’t mean that it can’t have reality TV series of its own. This is a league that is very adept at shoring up its immense popularity – and Hard Knocks was one of the first of these types of shows to look at the preparation a team goes through for a new season.

First broadcast in 2001, Hard Knocks has now continued for 19 seasons and has extended its remit to follow teams in season as well. The vast majority of NFL teams have now been featured at one time or another. It even gives celebrity fans the chance to narrate their team’s seasons, as in the case of Paul Rudd and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Last Chance U

This is a two-for-one deal of a reality TV sports show, as there have been different versions focusing on basketball and football. But Last Chance U does not feature household names and star teams. Instead, we discover potential star players of the future as they take their last chance at making it to a D1 school.

Following junior college programs throughout a season, these teams are made up of talented players who have failed to achieve the grades or have encountered disciplinary issues that have stopped them from playing for a top school. Some of the stories are heartbreaking but the players – and particularly the coaches – shine through.

Formula 1: Drive to Survive

This is one sports reality TV show that is credited with attracting a whole new audience to a sport. Formula 1 had never really taken off in the US, where NASCAR and other motorsports had traditionally dominated. But the first season of Drive to Survive, broadcast in 2019, proved incredibly popular everywhere – especially in the States.

There have now been six seasons of the show, all following the championship throughout the F1 season. It has provided a glimpse into the previously secretive world of the sport and introduced the drivers to millions of new fans. It has been so popular that there are now more Grand Prix races in the US than ever before.

The Contender

Some of the shows in this article follow established star athletes but The Contender went back to basics and created a competition for wannabe fighters to make it to the professional ranks. The first season paired Rocky himself, Sylvester Stallone, with the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard as presenters.

Not only did the viewers get to watch some exciting young fighters in the ring, but they also got to know them on a personal level and learn about their lives. It was a winning combination that eventually ran for five seasons and was very watchable – even when Tony Danza inexplicably took over presenting duties in season four!

Pros vs. Joes

There is nothing a sports fan likes better than arguing that he or she could do better than some of the professionals they watch on television. The premise of Pros vs. Joes, therefore, was a very simple one. Let’s see these sports fans prove it and go up against a team of athletes (usually retired).

There were some very big names from the world of sports only too eager to quieten down some of the outspoken fans who had no doubt given them stick throughout their careers. The public loved to see the upstarts get their comeuppance – and occasionally win against the pros.

American Ninja Warrior

Our last TV show only very loosely fits the sports category. But it is a show that is incredibly popular all around the world, so we thought we would include it here. Much like the WWE, American Ninja Warrior (ANW) is more sports entertainment than sports and sets contestants the task of traversing some fiendishly difficult obstacle courses.

Hard Knocks or Last Chance U, this is not. But it is great fun to watch, with the competitors invariably being knocked over or thrown into the water as they attempt to win their races. As a sport, it might not be up there with football or soccer. But millions of viewers have continued to watch since 2009.