NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley will executive produce “The Line,” his first scripted series which is based on Charley Rosen’s bestselling expose of a gambling scandal that nearly destroyed college basketball.
RTG Features and Barkley’s Round Mound Media label are producing the multi-episode one-hour historical drama which follows two college basketball players – one who recognizes the hypocrisy of the system and uses it to his advantage by point shaving, and another who plays solely for the love of the game.
The 1951 gambling scandal came in a nation still reeling from World War II and brought down the powerhouse team from the City College of New York, one of the most diverse and successful basketball programs of the era.
Barkley says in a statement: “It’s impossible to understand the present without knowing the past, and stories like this one — about cheating, racism and how easily amateur sports can be corrupted — are as true today as they were 70 years ago.”
Marc Perman, Randy Becker, Branyon Davis, Aron Phillips and Matt Aronson will produce. Davis and Kevin A. Garnett are adapting the script.
Source: Variety
