One of the hottest topics of discussion before and following this year’s National Football League season has been the potential lockout. If the battle between the Players Association and team owners is not settled by the time the collective bargaining agreement expires in March, a “lockout” will occur.
Evan Mathis, current Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman and former Alabama offensive lineman, has become part of an initiative with the hopes of making the lockout dilemma easier to comprehend for the public. Mathis, who has been assisted by producer Steven Gurley and Bill Chitwood, has partnered with Kickstarter.com to assist with funding to create a documentary about the potential lockout.
“My good friend, film producer Steven Gurley, showed me Kickstarter.com last year and said it would be fun to create a project on there and to think of a good topic,” Mathis said in an e-mailed statement. “Something I had been hearing a lot about during last football season was the possibility of a lockout. I thought that since it had never happened before in the NFL, then it would be something historic enough to document. Steven brought Dr. Bill Chitwood on board, and we had our primary team built.”
Chitwood continued via e-mail, “Initially, [it was] curiosity more than anything else [that motivated me to get involved with the project]. Now, my primary motivation is to try to increase public awareness about just what’s at stake if the two sides don’t reach an agreement.”
The documentary looks to provide a unique outlook on the lockout by including the perspectives of players and others that are relative to NFL organizations.
“When you have NFL players involved with NFL productions, that’s the best of both worlds,” sports agent Drew Rosenhaus said in a press release. “I’m confident that Evan is going to deliver a great product.”
All of the funds raised through Kickstarter will go towards expanding the project, postproduction and distribution of the finished product. To assist in raising funds for the project, visit the website Lockedout.tv.
“We are forwarding all visits to www.LockedOut.tv to my Kickstarter page where everyone can view our trailer,” Mathis said. “If anybody wants to be a part of the project, there are different reward levels based on the amount of the donation. If we don’t reach the full funding goal through Kickstarter, all the money is returned and sadly, we won’t finish this great film.”
The purpose of the film is to share and explain the lockout to the general public. The documentary has plans for completion upon the finalization of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement.
“More than anything, this is going to be a fun project that will help people understand a topic that can be very confusing,” Mathis said. “I’ll use my connections in the NFL to gain access to important interviews from every side of the issue. As a player, it would be really easy to present this film as propaganda but I really want to deliver an unbiased and informative final product. I plan on finishing it when the whole issue is resolved so the end game is really telling the story of what happened and why.”
Chitwood continued, “I would hope that, by increasing awareness about the possibility of losing all or part of an NFL season, public pressure will encourage both sides to bend a little to work out their differences and avoid a lockout. I’m glad that Evan is taking this chance to follow his ‘other’ dream, of being in the media.”
Mathis currently resides in Arizona for the offseason while running his personal training facility (ZoneAP.com).
