Report: 49ers will not appear on HBO’s Hard Knocks but Raiders still a possibility

Then there were four. That is four teams who could be chosen to be the feature club on HBO’s Hard Knocks who would be unable to turn it down. According to Matt Mayocco of NBC Bay Area, the 49ers will not be the team chosen.

That leaves the Raiders, Giants, Lions, and Washington.

Back in March, the odds came out on which team would appear on Hard Knocks and the Raiders were far and away the favorite with even odds. The 49ers and Giants were the long shots.

There’s no mystery as to why the Raiders would be the favorites. With Jon Gruden as head coach, Mike Mayock as GM, four picks in the top 35 (ultimately top 40 after draft day trades), spending over $80 million on new additions to the team including intriguing personalities like Antonio Brown and Vontaze Burfict. Recently they were even working out Richie Incognito.

In addition, this is their final season in Oakland before packing up and moving to Vegas, so the storyline is certainly there.

Some have suggested Hard Knocks would wait until next year when the Raiders are entering their first year in Vegas, but should they do that, they would be risking the possibility the Raiders could make the playoffs and therefore turn down their request to be on the show.

We should be hearing who WILL be on the show next season fairly soon.