When it comes to the reason why there isn’t a Hard Knocks series focused on the North Carolina football program, all signs have pointed to Jordon Hudson, the 24-year-old girlfriend of Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick.
And weeks after The Athletic published a report revealing that Hudson was “instrumental” in stopping the series from happening, The New York Times published new details regarding the first lady of UNC football’s role in halting the project.
Citing an anonymous source familiar with the deal, Katherine Rosman reports that Hudson “demanded she be granted content approval and partial ownership of the show.” NFL Films ultimately terminated the series shortly after the request and later learned that Hudson had also been in negotiations with the production studio EverWonder on a similar project, according to Rosman.
No such project has been announced, with EverWonder chief executive Ian Orefice declining comment to the Times.
The timeline laid out by Rosman falls in line with The Athletic’s previous reporting, which detailed how HBO, NFL Films and North Carolina were on the verge of announcing the series — which had already been publicly reported on — before NFL Films abruptly pulled the plug.
“The conversation took a turn we were not comfortable with,” NFL vice president for commercial operations and business affairs Jessica Boddy, who was also one of the show’s executive producers, wrote in an email to the school obtained by The Athletic.
Hudson’s involvement in the North Carolina program has become a major topic of conversation in the weeks since she famously interrupted Belichick’s interview with CBS Sunday Morning to shut down a question about how she and the 73-year-old head coach first met. Speaking to The Pivot last week, Belichick disputed the notion that his girlfriend was the reason the Hard Knocks series never came to be.
“The Hard Knocks thing, just for the record, Hard Knocks is training camp. And we’re not training camp,” Belichick said. “That’s not what we are, the drama of training camp, and who’s going to get cut and all that. We’re a season, and they don’t want that.
“There’s film issues, too. But forget about the film issues. Just say you could straighten all those out. The Hard Knocks just didn’t fit for us. That’s the bottom line.”
Belichick’s explanation doesn’t totally add up, as the project focused on the Tar Heels would have been a replacement for Hard Knocks’ offseason series, which appears to be one-and-done after the New York Giants front office’s disastrous showing a year ago. Tar Heels general manager Michael Lombardi previously told The Pat McAfee Show that UNC would be interested in participating in a Hard Knocks-style series more focused on the regular season.
Like Lombardi, it appears Belichick is open to the idea of a docuseries focused on his program. And it will certainly be worth monitoring if one ever comes to fruition — especially if it just so happens to involve the production company his girlfriend was reportedly in negotiations with.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.