The North Carolina football program and head coach Bill Belichick will appear on a season-long series to be streamed on Hulu, Belichick told the team Sunday.
“This is about the UNC football program,” said Belichick, who won six Super Bowl titles as head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots.
“… It’s going to feature the players working hard, which you guys do. It’s about the players improving and getting better through their hard work, which you do. And a program starting from where it started from seven months ago to wherever it’s going to go through the course of the season, which, of course, will be determined on the field. It’ll show our commitment to winning, it’ll show our commitment to the team and that’s our priority.”
There has been intense interest in the Tar Heels football program since Belichick, 73, was hired in December. UNC sold out all its tickets earlier than ever in program history. Hulu, UNC and Belichick have been negotiating since at least July, when there were reports of a finalized deal.
No further details have been released by the university or the football program.
UNC was all but set to appear on NFL Films’ “Hard Knocks” series before that deal fell through. Emails obtained by WRAL showed the sides were set to announce the deal before a last-minute hold-up. Other reports indicate that Jordon Hudson, Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend and business partner in outside ventures, wanted “content approval and partial ownership.”
In an Instagram post this weekend, Hudson posted a photo of her blowing emoji hearts toward Belichick with Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” as the music. The post tagged Hulu, parent company Disney and production company EverWonder Studio.
ESPN, which is owned by Disney, has the rights to televise ACC football games and will broadcast UNC’s opener against TCU on primetime on Sept. 1.