The North Carolina football docuseries is finally officially official.
UNC announced the series on its social handles Sunday, a couple hours after head coach Bill Belichick informed his team about it, a source told Front Office Sports. Cameras had already been filming team practices prior to the formal announcement.
FOS reported last month that the Hulu series was nearing finalization.
A previously planned collaboration with HBO’s Hard Knocks: Offseason fell through at the 11th hour, reportedly due to a couple of factors. ProFootballTalk founder Mike Florio reported NFL owners put the kibosh on NFL Films being part of the project over Belichick animus, while The Athletic reported the deal broke down over creative concerns involving Belichick’s girlfriend Jordon Hudson, who also serves as a business and marketing consigliere for the coach.
Saturday night, Hudson appeared to hint at the finalization of the new project when she posted a photo with Belichick to her Instagram story set to Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.” She also posted a video showing cameras at Tar Heel football practice before deleting it.
The Hulu docuseries is being produced by EverWonder Studio. Everwonder declined to comment beyond confirming the school’s announcement. Hulu and UNC did not respond to a request for comment. (RedBird IMI is the primary investor in both EverWonder and Front Office Sports.)
There is much intrigue about how Belichick, who won eight Super Bowls in the NFL (six as head coach of the Patriots, two as defensive coordinator under Bill Parcells with the Giants), will adapt to the college game.
A vast majority of North Carolina’s games will air on ESPN; ESPN and Hulu are both part of Disney, and there’s currently a bundle for the launch of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service that also includes Hulu and Disney+ at an introductory price of $29.99 a month.
