Tar Heels and Bill Belichick Are Must-See TV

ESPN is trying to replicate the fervor around Bill Belichick to what it was when Deion Sanders first took over at Colorado.

A report from Front Page Sports suggests there might be as many as ten games broadcast by ESPN or one of its related entities. ESPN has the broadcast rights to the Atlantic Coast Conference and they are hoping to do to Belichick what Fox and ESPN did to Coach Prime two years ago.

Can they capture lightning in a bottle twice?

“We have to wait and see. The potential is there,” ESPN senior director of programming and acquisitions Kurt Dargis told Front Office Sports. “There’s definitely interest in him outside the typical college football fan. Deion was such a phenomenon. I still can’t believe some of the numbers we got that first year he was there. It’s too early to say.”

According to Front Office Sports, Belichick is the flavor of the day.

"Before even coaching a game, though, Belichick is already bringing more exposure to UNC," FOS said. "The six-time Super Bowl–winning head coach has been the story of the offseason, due to his decision to return to the sidelines at age 73."

Last year, North Carolina did not appear on ESPN or any of its related networks. This season, they cannot get enough.

ESPN networks are poised to show 8, if not 10, of Bill Belichick’s first games as North Carolina head coach, sources tell FOS.

Can ESPN recreate the “Deion effect?”

“We have to wait and see. The potential is there.”
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) July 23, 2025

ESPN has already slotted UNC into primetime matchups to open the season on Labor Day against TCU, and two midseason Friday night ACC matchups against California and Syracuse. ESPN+ will exclusively stream Belichick's first road game Sept. 6 at Charlotte.

The ACC Network, which is owned by ESPN, will show UNC-Richmond on Sept. 13.

The remaining seven games will be decided the week before the games. It is possible that FOX Sports could compete with ESPN for the rights to show certain games. For example, FOX Sports has the right to the Big 12. UNC plays the University of Central Florida on Sept. 20. They could put the game on the CW Network as they have a sublicensing deal with the ACC.

All that means is that everyone wants to televise Belichick and his Tar Heels.

ESPN has its “hopes and fingers crossed,” Dargis said, that the Oct. 4 Clemson-UNC game will be a big one. That could be an attractive spot for ABC to put Belichick on broadcast TV, and ESPN would surely love to take College GameDay to Chapel Hill that Saturday, if the competition warrants it.

UNC is a good box office draw as well. They have sold out all the season tickets and single-game tickets they had to sell.

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