Inside the Box is back with an all-new limited episode season! We kick things off in conversation with sports media scholar, Dr. Travis Vogan to discuss his book Keepers of the Flame: NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media. In fitting with this season’s focus on history and collective memory that often goes beyond the television screen (or “box”), Travis and Jonathan discuss NFL Films’s role in crafting how we think about the league, in what ways that has changed with the newer emphasis on the NFL Network, and the role databases and metadata has played in helping to structure this mindset.

If you’ve listened to the episode and want to read more about NFL Films’s SABER system, here is a presentation by David W. Franza from 2013 on it.

Then be sure to check back in two weeks for our next brand-new free episode in the main feed. Although, if you’re interested in listening to the show’s archive of episodes (1 through 87) or any of the new BONUS episodes (beginning September 16), please head over to Patreon.com and provide a small donation in order to gain access to this content.

It feels great to be back, and we hope you all join us for the ride!

The cover to Vogan’s Keepers of the Flame.Travis’s newest book on the cinema of boxing.Steve Sabol (1942-2012) and his father Ed Sabol (1916-2015), the founders of NFL Films.Example of the type of film packaging used by NFL Films in the 1960s (credit: 4501jeffrey)NFL Films headquartersThe cover to Vogan’s ESPN: The Making of a Sports Media Empire.