Well, this stinks.
In a turn of events, UNC football and Bill Belichick will not be participating in Hard Knocks: Offseason after talks break down. More at @NFLonCBS https://t.co/JC7teHvz28
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) March 4, 2025
According to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, the deal for the UNC football program to appear on 'Hard Knocks: Offseason' has fell through. Jones released a brief statement from an NFL Media spokesperson regarding the matter:
"NFL Films had discussions with Coach Belichick and UNC about appearing on Hard Knocks this offseason but couldn't reach an agreement."
While it originally appeared like the two sides were near an agreement, something broke those talks apart. For the UNC football program, it's a questionable move to abandon talks with NFL Films. The free marketing and publicity alone would be a massive boost for the program. That, and Belichick's familiarity with the NFL Films company, made it feel like a perfect match when HBO dug deeper into shifting the programming to cover a college football team.
The good news is that Jones is also reporting that the UNC football program is looking to do some sort of all-access, behind-the-scenes series with some media group. However, it's very odd to see this deal fall through, especially because it seemed to be so close to the finish line.
While some will be happy that this deal fell through (citing off the field distractions), many will be disappointed that we won't get a behind the scenes look at the first offseason for the UNC football program under the direction of new head coach Bill Belichick.