Mark Wahlberg executive producer of the HBO series Ballers told Mike & Mike of ESPN that Roger Goodell tried to prevent the HBO series form happening. Walhberg said that during the first season of the show he would get calls from Roger Goodell and various owners of the league saying, “‘You can’t do this.” Wahlberg believes its a good thing for the league and the players, “Because hopefully you get the word out there with the crazy stuff and the financial side of it, we’ll hopefully get these guys to realize they gotta be more careful with what they do with their money.”
Wahlberg, wants to keep the show as real as possible by getting current and former NFL players to join the show and give it substance and authenticity. “We’re privileged to get in the real story . We want to make sure the key is to make it as authentic as possible no matter how outrageous it gets. But, we always surround ourselves with real guys. And because the show is so accurate, that’s why you get guys like Ndamukong Suh, Terrell Suggs is on the show as well this year, Jarvis Landry, you got a lot of guys and not to mention countless Patriots. Though, I can’t say who it is or what they’re doing yet because it’s a surprise and I don’t want to spoil the finale, but guys know that we make sure that we make it real.”
If you want to listen to the whole interveiw you can listen here: Mark Wahlberg: Mike & Mike
Ballers season 2 premier begins July 17th at 10:00 pm on HBO.
