New England Patriots fans who just can’t get enough of 73-year-old former head coach Bill Belichick â after a 10-part Apple TV documentary series, his seemingly ubiquitous media presence throughout 2024 revealing a surprisingly open and jocular side to his personality, and of course, his 24 years at the helm of the Patriots franchise â will soon get another chance to see Belichick at work behind the scenes.
But that chance will not come on the Warner/Discovery-owned subscription cable network HBO, as was previously planned. Instead, according to a report by Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, a new docuseries chronicling Belichick’s first season as a college head coach will instead stream via the Disney-owned Hulu app.
In a move that surprised the football world, Belichick took his first post-Patriots head coaching job not in the NFL, but in the collegiate ranks. Belichick is now the head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.
Hudson Allegedly Behind Break With HBO
The planned HBO series was set to be a behind-the-scenes look at how Belichick handled his new assignment, but according to the Front Office Sports report, the deal with the iconic cable network â home of the perennially popular NFL docu-series Hard Knocks â collapsed “reportedly, in part, due to creative differences involving Belichickâs girlfriend Jordon Hudson.”
The nature of those “creative differences” were not explained in Glasspiegel’s report, but if his reporting is accurate, it would not be the first time questions were raised about the role of Hudson, who is 49 years younger than Belichick â in the legendary coach’s public and business dealings.
During an interview designed to promote his book The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football, published in May, Belichick was asked how he met his “girlfriend,” only to have Hudson, sitting off-camera, interrupt the interview to declare, “We’re not talking about this.”
Hudson seems to have assumed at least some level of control over the docu-series. Front Office Sports reports that through a company she controls, she has registered trademarks on what appear to be several potential titles for the show, including, Chapel Bill (Billâs Version), Do Your Job: (Billâs Version), and No Days Off (Billâs Version).
“Multiple reports blamed the collapse on Belichickâs 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, who reportedly wanted extensive control over the project,” added Mike Florio, of Pro Football Talk. “Belichick naturally tells a different story.”
Belichick’s story was that, âHard Knocks is training camp and weâre not training camp,â as quoted in a previous report by Florio.
Docu-Series Now Under Aegis of UNC Football TV Network
According to a report by the Boston radio station WEEI, however, “the main producer of this project will reportedly be EverWonder Studio – a company whose primary investor is RedBird IMI, a joint venture led by former NBC and CNN president Jeff Zucker.”
RedBird IMI is also the primary investor is Front Office Sports, Glasspiegel reported.
At the same time, moving the series to Hulu brings it under the same Disney corporate ownership as the cable sports network ESPN, which broadcasts most ACC football games, including North Carolina’s.
“While Belichickâs first season at North Carolina is not technically of the Boston sports genre, his foray into college football will be of immense interest to this region,” according to the WEEI report.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Bill Belichick Announcement Raises New Questions on Jordon Hudson Influence appeared first on Heavy Sports.