Any dwindling hype around Bill Belichick’s debut season as North Carolina’s head football coach after a lopsided opening loss to TCU could have big implications for the school, the ACC, TV rights-holders, and other stakeholders across college football.
No Tar Heels football season has ever begun with so much national attention, evidenced by Michael Jordan headlining a long list of celebrities that attended Monday night’s game in Chapel Hill, which turned into a 48–14 rout and saw fans leaving in the third quarter.
UNC in July sold out of all football tickets for this season, with fans taking a big interest in Belichick, 73, who instantly became one of the highest-paid coaches in college football with a $10 million salary. Tar Heels football GM Michael Lombardi is one of the top-compensated executives in the sport, earning $1.5 million this year.
Belichick’s cache from winning six Super Bowls as an NFL head coach brought a new buzz this summer to the ACC, which, along with the Big 12, is trying to keep up with the more lucrative of the Power 4 conferences, the Big Ten and SEC. His star power also led to ESPN betting big on UNC this season, hoping for a TV ratings boost similar to what Deion Sanders brought to Colorado in 2023. UNC is also the subject of a docuseries set to stream on Hulu later this fall.
UNC will make its first road trip under Belichick on Saturday against Charlotte. Last month, that sold-out game became the most expensive resale ticket in Charlotte’s history, as Belichick’s presence gave a boost to the Tar Heels’ upcoming road opponents, too.
One date to keep an eye on as UNC plays its next three games (Charlotte, Richmond, and Central Florida) is their first ACC game of the season, Oct. 4, against Clemson. ESPN had internally been targeting that matchup in Chapel Hill as a potential stop for College GameDay, but if the Belichick hype continues to die down, that may not end up happening.
