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Carolina has now had two football TV series canceled.
Before fall training camp started, a contract was signed by UNC with NFL Films and HBO to feature Bill Belichick and his team in the first college version of eight-part Hard Knocks series, which was celebrating its 25th year on the air.
The show had always followed preseason camps of various NFL teams. This time UNC would be highlighted because the veteran NFL legend had become the Tar Heels’ new head coach.
The contract was canceled just before training camp opened, and reportedly Belichick’s girlfriend had something to do with it because she supposedly wanted a role as an associate producer of the series.
Jordon Hudson, 24, and the 73-year-old Belichick have what he has described as a “personal and professional” relationship, and she is not employed by the university. They have been seen together from a pre-Super Bowl banquet and Super Bowl commercial, to her competing in the Miss USA pageant in Maine, to holding hands on a stroll in Nantucket during Carolina’s first open weekend and various football sidelines.
Hudson has been labeled a social media influencer, and she is not shy about showing up in public places with or near Belichick and posting pictures with him on her platforms. She has also trademarked some tag lines about the Hoodie as his personal brand ambassador.
Belichick attributed the cancellation of Hard Knocks to not having the type of coverage they were looking for after reports that Hudson wanted an influential role in the production. She accompanied him to a CBS News interview, which she interrupted on camera when the reporter asked Belichick how they met. “We’re not doing that,” Hudson said.
Then before the season began on Labor Day night, Carolina happily announced that Hulu had signed up to do a documentary series on Belichick’s first season in Chapel Hill.
“I’m excited to share with you we will be doing that, and Hulu will showcase our football program,” Belichick said in a promotional video. “This is about the UNC football program. There’s obviously a lot of interest in it, and it will stream on Hulu later this fall.”
After the Heels lost their first three games against power 4 opponents by the aggregate score of 120-33, Inside Carolina reported that Hulu also pulled the plug.
Hudson and Belichick, and several players earlier in the season, said she was not a distraction to the team in the football center or on the sidelines of practices and games, where she had been seen talking with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, UNC media director for football Brandon Faber and Belichick himself during warm-ups.
Whether they like it or not, the relationship has received national coverage from People magazine, the New Yorker, the Athletic and repeatedly by the scandalous New York Post and most recently mention in a full-page story in the Wall Street Journal.
So far, Hulu has given no reasons along with no reports of Hudson being involved.
“So far” is the operative phrase here.
Featured image via Associated Press/John Raoux
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
