Bill Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, was reportedly a significant factor in the North Carolina Tar Heels’ absence from HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks.’ It was disclosed that the production company decided to pull out.
UNC initially agreed to be featured on the show, marking the first time Hard Knocks would spotlight a college football team. This agreement coincided with the arrival of legendary NFL head coach Belichick at the school this year.
However, one former Patriots player has already called for his dismissal due to Hudson. Despite Belichick’s well-known dislike for ‘Hard Knocks’ and excessive camera exposure of his team, he allegedly welcomed HBO to chronicle a five-episode series on their preseason.
But just days before pre-production was set to commence, negotiations fell through. According to The Athletic, Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend, Hudson, got involved and sought inclusion in the project.
This development comes as UNC staff has voiced “concern” about Hudson following her abrupt dismissal of a relationship question during an uncomfortable interview with Belichick.
NFL Films had scheduled to begin filming with North Carolina from March 1, capturing behind-the-scenes footage of Belichick’s debut season in college football over a two-month span on the school’s campus. The documentary could have netted the school around $200,000 in facilities fees.
However, reports indicate that Hudson’s involvement led to the collapse of negotiations. Jessica Boddy, the NFL’s Vice President for Commercial Operations and Business Affairs, has disclosed that UNC’s counsel confirmed they “will not proceed with the production of the Belichick project” after discussions took an uncomfortable turn.
Belichick initially seemed fully on board with the docuseries, as his close friend and general manager Michael Lombardi outlined their vision for the project.
Speaking on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’, Lombardi said: “It would have been great. The problem was, we control the story we need to tell here. And the story we want to tell doesn’t end after we play TCU, the story we want to tell is a story about how we’re rebuilding this program. How we’re going to honor the great players who have come before us. How we’re going to restore Tar Heel football and make this stadium come alive on Saturday afternoons like a lot of other schools in the ACC.
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“That’s the story we want to tell. And when it stops on after the first game like on ‘Hard Knocks’ does, it doesn’t really do us any good to tell that story. And that really was the concern we all had here in the building was, we’re all storytellers. When you let them into your building we’re going to tell a story.
“And the story we wanted to tell was about how we’re working to build this program and we’re going to work hard to recruit and do all that. And that extends into September, October, November. It can’t stop at Labor Day. That was more the issue.”
Reports indicate that Hudson has been a key figure in all communications and interactions with Belichick since his relocation to North Carolina, even allegedly leaking an email from an NFL legend this week. Just a week ago, Belichick appeared in a CBS interview where Hudson was present, essentially serving as his public relations manager, stepping in during the questioning and insisting on certain questions being off-limits.
