CNN Original Series "Decades in Sports" from Playtone's Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog to Premiere Sunday, August 2

NEW YORK - (July 9, 2026) - CNN Original Series Decades in Sports from executive producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog explores the cultural and political milestones that transformed sports and helped shape America. The newest installment in the Emmy(R) Award-nominated Decades franchise premieres with two episodes on Sunday, August 2 starting at 9pm ET/PT. The six-episode series will air weekly on Sundays at 9pm ET/PT and stream the next day on the CNN app or at CNN.com/watch.

Across six episodes, Decades in Sports explores the defining moments, athletes and cultural shifts that shaped sports over the past six decades, from the television revolution and Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, to the transformative social and political changes of the 1970s, to the impact of social media on today's biggest sports stars. Along the way, each decade reveals the unforgettable athletes, championship moments and cultural milestones that transformed sports, and America.

The series features interviews with legendary broadcasters Bob Costas, Al Michaels and Andrea Kremer, football legends Lynn Swann and Drew Pearson, basketball Hall of Famer Bill Bradley, Olympic gold medalist and WNBA legend Diana Taurasi, ESPN analysts Jessica Mendoza and Malika Andrews, journalists/authors Dave Kindred, Joe Posnanski, Michael MacCambridge, Bomani Jones and John Heilemann, marathon pioneer Kathrine Switzer, and additional athletes, coaches, journalists, historians and legendary sports broadcasters.

Decades in Sports is a continuation of CNN Original Series' storied partnership with PlayTone which includes over eight seasons and over 70 hours of television, including The Sixties, 1968: The Year That Changed America, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, The 2000s, The 2010s, The Movies and Tis the Season: Holidays on Film.

"Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog have been extraordinary creative partners whose storytelling has brought history to life for CNN audiences time and again," said Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent, CNN Originals and creative development for CNN Worldwide. "As excitement around sports reaches a fever pitch this summer, Decades in Sports offers the perfect opportunity to look back at the moments that built today's passionate fan culture."

Executive producers for Decades in Sports are Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and Mark Herzog; Amy Entelis and Lyle Gamm for CNN Original Series.

The series will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps on Sunday, August 2. It will also be available on demand beginning Monday, August 3 to CNN's streaming subscribers via CNN.com and CNN connected TV and mobile apps.

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About CNN Originals

The CNN Originals group develops, produces and acquires original, long-form unscripted programming for CNN Worldwide. Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent, CNN Originals and creative development, oversees the award-winning CNN Originals portfolio that includes the following premium content brands: CNN Original Series, CNN Films, CNN FlashDocs, and CNN Studios, an internal production studio which creates long-form programming for CNN's global platforms. Since 2012, the team has overseen and executive produced more than 50 multi-part documentary series and 70 feature-length documentary films, earning more than 120 awards and 450 nominations for the cable network, including CNN Films' first Academy Award(R) for Navalny. Acclaimed titles include the Peabody Award winning and 13-time Emmy(R) Award-winning Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown; five time Emmy(R) nominee, Apollo 11, directed by Todd Douglas Miller; Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain and Emmy(R) nominated Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico; the Emmy(R) Award-nominated "Decades Series": The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, The 2000s, and The 2010s, executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman; I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not directed by Emmy(R) winner Marina Zenovich; The Last Movie Stars, directed by Ethan Hawke about the lives and careers of actors and humanitarians Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman; Grammy(R) Award nominee Little Richard: I Am Everything, directed by Lisa Cortés; the Oscar(R), BAFTA, PGA, and duPont-Columbia Award-winning, Navalny directed by Daniel Roher; The Many Lives of Martha Stewart; This is Life with Lisa Ling; Primetime Emmy(R) and duPont-Columbia Award-winning, RBG, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen; See It Loud: The History of Black Television, executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter; Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight in partnership with the BBC; the Producers Guild Award and three-time Emmy(R) Award-winning Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy; BAFTA nominee and Directors Guild Award winner, Three Identical Strangers, directed by Tim Wardle; and the five-time Emmy(R) Award-winning United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell; and the seven-time Emmy(R) Award-winning The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper. CNN Originals can be seen on CNN, to stream via a CNN All Access subscription, on the CNN Original Hub on HBO Max and discovery+, on the CNN Originals FAST channel, and with a pay TV subscription via CNN.com, CNN apps and cable operator platforms.

About PlayTone

PLAYTONE is Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's film and television production company. Television credits include two-part documentary special Billy Joel: And So It Goes for HBO, five-part documentary series The American Experiment for Netflix, 20-part documentary series World War II with Tom Hanks for The History Channel, Masters of the Air for Apple TV+, the Emmy-winning HBO movie Game Change, Emmy-winning HBO limited series' Olive Kitteridge, The Pacific, John Adams, and Band of Brothers, Emmy-nominated HBO series Big Love, Anna Deavere Smith's one-woman show Notes From The Field for HBO, television special event The Concert for Valor for HBO, the 2012-2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert Special for HBO, and CNN docuseries' The Movies, The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, The 2000s, The 2010s, and four-part documentary special 1968. Upcoming projects include Berlin Noir and Greyhound 2 for Apple TV+, The Comebacker, and In the Garden of Beasts.

PlayTone's television productions have garnered over 50 Emmy Awards (6 Outstanding Miniseries or Movie), 10 Golden Globe Awards (4 Best Mini Series or Motion Picture Made for Television), and 5 Peabody Awards. Hanks and Goetzman are recipients of the PGA's Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television.

About Mark Herzog

Mark Herzog has partnered with Playtone on numerous productions for the past 30 years including We Stand Alone Together, the HBO Emmy-nominated companion documentary for the multiple Emmy-winning Band of Brothers; The Bloody Hundredth, last year's companion documentary to the Emmy-winning Apple TV+ series, Masters of the Air; Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon, an IMAX 3-D film about the twelve men who walked on the moon; and David McCullough: Painting with Words, the Oscar short-listed documentary short about one of America's premiere historians. Decades of Sports continues their collaboration for CNN following The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, The 2000s, The 2010s, 1968, Tis the Season and the 12-hour documentary series The Movies.