The Bill Belichick effect is real. After not selling out season tickets for the 2024 season, the North Carolina football team has sold out its 20,000 season tickets this year, according to North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham. This comes despite a 25% season ticket price increase, something Cunningham says the school “got no pushback on.”
Cunningham added that with more primetime games this year, UNC’s revenue share with the Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to increase, as is the value of its sponsorship deals.
While the school is seeing some positive benefits from hiring the eight-time Super Bowl champion, it hasn’t all been smooth. The 73-year-old’s relationship with 24-year-old Jordon Hudson has been labeled a distraction by many.
Her presence at interviews as well as the football field has caused confusion over her role not only in Belichick’s life, but in his role with the Tar Heels. There were reports she was banned from UNC’s football facility, something the school denied, saying in a statement to CBS Sports, “While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities.
“Jordon will continue to manage all activities related to Coach Belichick’s personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University,” the statement continued.
Eyebrows were raised by reports that Belichick asked the UNC staff to copy Hudson on all emails sent to him, something he later confirmed, with the explanation that she stepped in to help when there was no one else to do the job.
Bill Belichick explains Jordon Hudson’s North Carolina football email that went viral
Brad Crawford
“One of the first things that came out when North Carolina sent me emails saying, ‘These people want to talk to you…’ I sent back an email, ‘Can you please copy Jordon on these requests?’ so she could at least filter through them because there was nobody,” Belichick said on “The Pivot” podcast with Ryan Clark. “We didn’t have a sports information guy. Because all emails are shared publicly, that was taken as Jordon’s running the sports information department. And that also led to a narrative, which is just totally — she’s not doing it. I mean, there was nobody to help me sort it out, so I was asking her to do it.”
As Belichick prepares for his first season as a college football head coach and his return from a brief break after the New England Patriots parted ways with the Hall of Famer, his off-the-field moves are being discussed more than what his plan is for the team on the field. For a coach who spent his entire career in New England with a philosophy of no outside noise and no distractions, it’s surprising to see his personal life be such a major topic.
His personal life could turn out to not have any impact on the team once the season begins, and even if he is making headlines for now, he is also selling tickets.
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