In February 2024, the Drive to Survive Season 6 hit the streaming platform Netflix to deliver yet another high-octane, hard-hitting, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to be in Formula One racing. When it first arrived in 2019, it was an instant hit with fans and viewers less attached to the sport itself.
Given all of these factors, it’s not a surprise that some other sporting organizations have tapped up the Drive to Survive creators, Box To Box Films, to recreate the series for their leagues. On October 4, 2024, Faceoff: Inside the NHL finally arrived on Prime Video, seeking to emulate the success the F1 saw.
Drive to Survive Switched it Up a Gear
It’s tough to understate the success of Drive to Survive both as a series in its own right and as a way to boost the sport it put under the microscope. In a nutshell, the US was won over by the Netflix documentary series, even to the extent that Guenther Steiner – then the principal of Haas – earned tremendous cheers from crowds at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. It was all down to his showing on Drive to Survive.
Essentially, what Drive to Survive does is condense a whole season of racing into binge-worthy, dramatic television. To achieve this, the team seemingly doesn’t pull any punches when reviewing the clips that its fly-on-the-wall cameras capture, letting the real human side of everyone involved come through in triumph and loss. It rocketed the global popularity of Formula One, which already commanded a strong audience for its globe-trotting championships.
Now, this isn’t to say that Drive to Survive has been without its detractors. Many people involved in F1 have been just as against the Netflix camera crew being in and around the pits as they are the pageantry put on at US Grand Prix events. Naturally, some are onside, seeing its power to spread the popularity of F1. One big supporter is Scuderia racer Charles Leclerc, who says: “it has only done good for F1.”
NHL Seeking its Drive to Survive
Only one season of Faceoff: Inside the NHL has been released so far, and Prime Video is both notoriously secretive about its viewing figures and not particularly pressed to make coherent or successful shows – given the small piece of the Amazon pie that Prime Video offers. So, we’ll have to wait on what the NHL proper relays over potential future seasons to get to grips with how well the show has worked. Luckily, it shares similarities with F1.
The sport certainly isn’t new to dramatization, much as F1 wasn’t. Where racing has Le Mans ’66 and the upcoming 2025 F1 movie with Brad Pitt, hockey has Goon, Miracle, and Mystery Alaska. On top of this, both sports are incredibly high-paced, require tremendous amounts of skill and split-second decision-making in high-stress situations, and both are inherently very dangerous. So far, though, it seems that the show was a success.
As the show launched on October 4, 2024, recounting the 2023/24 campaign, more reports accompanied it telling of “a number of players” having stated their interest in being front and center in Faceoff: Inside the NHL Season 2. Much like all other NHL seasons, this season has the makings of drama, as reflected by the race for the Stanley Cup. Every year, even the experts find it tough to call, what with there being so many strong teams to consider outright odds for.
Looking to the odds to see the competitiveness of a league is a fine exercise, as the oddsmakers’ offering depends on accurate odds in order to appease bettors and not get caught out by a winner who’s massively against the odds. In the NHL, this sees the betting lines feature many close teams at the top, reflecting how competitive, intense, and entertaining the run to the Cup will be this year. As of December 9, the NHL betting had the Edmonton Oilers at +800 to win, which are long odds for a favorite in any sport.
Leading the Oilers again is one of the most memorable stars of Faceoff: Inside the NHL Season 1, Connor McDavid, but even he and his star-studded team aren’t guaranteed to win it all. This is why the odds have it as a very close race that also features the +1000 Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, and Toronto Maple Leafs as well as the +1100 Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils. Colorado Avalanche is also up there at +1200.
We’ll have to wait and see if Box To Box have, once again, caught lightning in a bottle with Faceoff: Inside the NHL, but a sustained effort over several seasons promoted by Prime Video with this team behind it would surely bring more fans into the sport and promote its stars even further.
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