ESPN to Produce '30 for 30' Film on O.J. Simpson's Life

Having apparently waited the requisite number of years for a deep dive on the life of a former celebrity turned miscreant and accused murderer, ESPN recently let slip that it will be producing a 30 for 30 episode on former Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson.

The Buffalo News' Alan Pergament (h/t Awful Announcing's Ken Fang) wrote in his Tuesday column about ESPN's Dan Le Batard accidentally divulging the project's existence during a radio segment with 30 for 30 co-founder and Grantland head Bill Simmons. 

Pergament offered the gist of Le Batard's slip in his piece. He writes that the radio host brought up the Simpson project on the air only to remember the company had yet to officially announce its existence.

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Le Batard suggested that the highly praised "30 for 30" series co-created by Simmons is planning an installment about disgraced Buffalo Bills star O.J. Simpson that could go as long as five hours. After making the statement, Le Batard asked Simmons if he was revealing a secret and shouldn't have said anything. Simmons said it wasn't a problem.

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Pergament goes on to explain that the Simpson episode isn't exactly a state secret.

He says he and others have been interviewed over the past year by a production company ESPN is employing to cobble the project together. Pergament agreed not to divulge its existence until ESPN made an announcement, and he believes Le Batard's remarks count as much as a press release.

So what can we expect? 

A long, long recounting of the life and times of Simpson, if Le Batard's time estimate is even close to the actual end product. Several hours would probably be about the time needed to completely unpack Simpson's life story, which still stands as one of the most exaggerated examples of a man's meteoric rise and subsequent fall from grace. 

As for timing, ESPN hasn't confirmed a date for the project's airing, although it wouldn't be crazy to expect the film/episode to run sometime in the early fall. The 20th anniversary of the verdict in Simpson's murder trial will come to pass in October, providing a nice time hook for ESPN to double-dip into the Simpson murder story.

"The Worldwide Leader in Sports" has already mined Simpson's legal issues for one 30 for 30, placing his police chase in the white Bronco on June 17, 1994, in context with the other sports moments that occurred that night.

This new work will likely take a much wider look at the desperate man inside the Bronco, how he got there and where he is today. I, for one, am preparing for a Lord of the Rings-length trilogy of some kind but with less orcs and more cheesy O.J. commercials.

Dan is on Twitter.