H. G. Bissinger spent the 1988 season with the Permian Panthers in Odessa, Texas. Everything on this site follows from that.
The book came out in 1990. Peter Berg — Bissinger's cousin — directed the film for Universal in 2004, shooting in Odessa and using Ratliff Stadium as itself. Jason Katims ran the NBC and DirecTV series from 2006 to 2011, moved the story to the fictional town of Dillon, and won three Emmys with it. Three works, one source, and a real town that had opinions about all of it.
What is covered here
Five sections. The Film takes the 2004 production: the casting, Explosions in the Sky's score, Tobias Schliessler's photography, the locations and the reported box office. The Book takes the reporting method, the reception in Odessa, the prizes and the 25th-anniversary afterword. The Series takes Katims's five seasons, the Taylors, the handheld shooting method and the split-window deal that paid for the last three years.
Odessa holds the record the other three are built on: Ratliff Stadium at 19,302 seats and $5.6 million, Permian's six state titles, the oil cycle and the integration record. Texas Football sets that against the institution around it — the UIL's classifications, the suburban stadium costs, the salaries and the broadcast money.
The archive lists every piece on one page. Corrections belong on the contact page.