California Golden Bears Athletics
Cal Football, NFL Films To Present “Portal Games: Building the 2026 Cal Bears”
9/24/2026 11:30 AM | Football
First-Of-Its-Kind Documentary Showcases Transfer Portal
Portal Games: Building the 2026 Cal Bears - a first-of-its-kind documentary born out of a partnership between the California football program and NFL Films - is set to premiere on September 30 at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT on FS1 as an NFL Films Presents feature. Portal Games, which followed the Cal program for the past nine months, gives the audience a behind-the-scenes look into the many moving parts of the transfer portal, including player visits, meetings, dialogue and negotiations. After its premiere, Portal Games will be available to watch on the NFL Films and Cal Football YouTube pages.
Cal's 2026 transfer portal class was ranked in the top-15 nationally among many outlets for the first time. In addition to the recommitment of quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, newly named Travers Family Head Football Coach Tosh Lupoi brought in eight players who were on College Football Playoff rosters only a few days prior to committing to Cal along with many others who had played at college football's highest level.
"Everything we do revolves around talent acquisition," Lupoi said. "In a short period of time, our staff built relationships and shared the new vision of Cal Football to some of the most elite athletes in the country – and they're here now."
California Football teamed up with NFL Films - the creators of "Hard Knocks" among many other award-winning documentaries - to bring the transfer portal to life.
NFL Films earned 23 Emmy nominations in the past year -- the most in the 63-year history of the company -- highlighted by a record-high five nominations for the series NFL Films Presents.
NFL Films also introduced the third season of its award-winning docuseries "Quarterback" on Netflix over the summer, a program that previously featured former Cal quarterback Jared Goff. This past August, NFL Films produced its 21st season of "Hard Knocks", this time with the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks throughout training camp.
"We wanted to showcase to everyone that the University of California, Berkeley, is not just the No. 1 public institution in the world, but with the proper alignment, resources and investment, we can also be major players in college football," Cal Football Athletic Director and General Manager Ron Rivera said. "In order to do that, we partnered with the greatest football storytellers in the world - NFL Films."
