The University of North Carolina was reportedly only set to receive $250,000 for the ill-fated docuseries about Bill Belichick’s first year with the Tar Heels.
Sportico has also reported that, as part of the deal, Belichick would be able to use the footage from his debut season in Chapel Hill at a later date.
The docuseries has been plagued with issues since it was announced in August and, just two weeks ago, it was revealed it is no longer in development with Hulu.
On Monday, Belichick said filming is ‘paused’ and ‘not terminated’. UNC spokesman Dean Stoyer then told the Charlotte Observer that UNC ‘paused on production,’ but ‘left the door open to continue in the future.’
The deal, as reported by the Charlotte Observe, granted EverWonder access to UNC’s array of football facilities throughout both pre-season and the 2025 campaign.
Filming would have occurred between August 11 and October 31 and the show would ‘showcase the University and the next chapter of Coach Belichick’s coaching legacy and his life’.
UNC was reportedly getting paid $250,000 for the docuseries about Bill Belichick’s first year
Belichick’s first season has been overshadowed by his relationship with Jordon Hudson
If given the green light by UNC, EverWonder would be obligated to provide the six-time Super Bowl winner with access to the raw footage once filming hand concluded.
He would then be allowed to use it after either 12 months following the show’s release or two years from the agreement’s signing, whichever comes first.
The contract stipulated that Belichick had the right to withdraw his participation and either party could terminate the deal if he refused to take part or didn’t give the ‘necessary permissions for his inclusion.’
A separate license and footage deal was then struck between UNC and TCE Rights Management, the company owned by Belichick but operated by Hudson, his 24-year-old girlfriend.
That ensures the coach cannot ‘use, reproduce, distribute, display or publicly perform’ the footage until the aforementioned holdback period is over.
Belichick’s tenure has been the subject of huge focus ever since he signed a five-year deal with the Tar Heels in December 2024.
It is the six-time Super Bowl winner’s first venture into college football, while his relationship with Hudson has resulted in a string of explosive reports.
He has also presided over a disastrous start to the season with UNC 2-4 after several heavy defeats, the latest of which was a 21-18 loss to California last week.
North Carolina was also beaten 48-14 by TCU in Belichick’s first game and that was followed by further one-sided losses to UCF (34-9) and Clemson (38-10).
Back in March, it emerged that the 73-year-old – and his 24-year-old girlfriend Hudson – failed to agree a deal with HBO for UNC to appear on Hard Knocks.
Reports at the time claimed that the project fell through in large part due to Hudson, who requested to be heavily involved in the series.
The Tar Heels are 2-4 after six games and filming for the documentary has been ‘paused’
It also comes just days after excruciating behind-the-scenes footage of Hudson humiliating producers of an NFL podcast while micro-managing Belichick emerged.
During the footage, the couple were caught on a hot mic moaning that the show’s organizers ‘can’t do s***’.
The leaked behind the scenes footage was recorded on the set of NFL Films studios in September 2024. It features Hudson, 24, repeatedly scrutinizing graphics on a screen that would illustrate talking points raised by Belichick, with her tone growing increasingly patronizing.
Hudson and Belichick were on the set of ‘Coach’ in New Jersey – a podcast Belichick recorded with former Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia, who throughout looks deeply uncomfortable with Hudson’s involvement.
The clip, first reported by Pablo Torre, shows Hudson initially questioning why Belichick would discuss a team trying to keep an opponent out of the end zone.
‘Is it necessary to say “keep them out of the end zone?” I feel like that’s pretty self-explanatory,’ Hudson says. ‘I don’t know if there’s an additional point. Should it say red zone? You guys haven’t reviewed these before this moment here?’
In a separate discussion moaning about the graphics, Hudson says to Belichick: ‘I thought this was going to look like it was scribbled into a playbook. This feels like a “how many people does it take to screw in a lightbulb” situation.’
For all Hudson’s efforts to asset herself as the most significant figure in the room, she then was undone by a basic mistake. In a moment between takes, she and Belichick are unaware his mic is on as they discuss the setup around them.
‘I don’t know how they have four full-time graphics people,’ Hudson said, to which Belichick responded: ‘They can’t do s***.’
Belichick and his girlfriend Jordon Hudson previously failed to agree a deal with Hard Knocks
Hudson also tells producers out of shot of the camera that she can make slicker graphics than what they have managed to create.
‘I mean, damn… if somebody puts on a clock, I can create this in five minutes. Will you give me two grand to do that?’ she asks, as Belichick chuckled. Patricia, meanwhile, just awkwardly scrolled away on his laptop while Hudson continued to insert herself into the planning.
Then, in an especially tone-deaf suggestion, Hudson says: ‘I said that there was a certain way we wanted these to look… based upon what it was they were talking about. This would have graphics that would almost look like they have ripped the page out of their playbook and slapped it on the screen.
‘Can we do that (design the graphics) with them? And sit there and say say, you know, as they are doing it, that’s wrong? Can we set up a meeting with the entire graphics team and anybody that has anything to do with this?’
