ESPN is placing a major spotlight on Bill Belichick's first game as head coach at North Carolina.
For the Tar Heels’ season opener on Sept. 1 against TCU, ESPN will air a special one-hour College Football Countdown show live from the sidelines of Kenan Stadium, per a press release. The game will kick off on Labor Day night, capping off the sport’s first full weekend of action.
"A talented group of college football minds join the show hosted by Matt Barrie along with analysts Tedy Bruschi, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban, and college football insider Pete Thamel," ESPN said in a press release. "Bruschi played his entire 13 season NFL career – winning three Super Bowls – under Belichick with the New England Patriots, while Saban spent four seasons (1991-94) under Belichick’s tutelage as a defensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns. Belichick is a frequent guest and friend of the program on The Pat McAfee Show during the football season."
The Labor Day matchup will mark TCU’s first visit to Chapel Hill since 1994. The two teams have met only three times in their histories.
Earlier this week, Front Office Sports reported that ESPN is hoping to replicate the surge in ratings that came with Deion Sanders’ debut at Colorado in 2023. The Coach Prime phenomenon drove record-breaking viewership across networks during his first year in Boulder.
“We have to wait and see. The potential is there,” ESPN senior director of programming and acquisitions Kurt Dargis told FOS. “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.”
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Belichick’s debut could be just the beginning. North Carolina is currently slated to appear on ESPN networks for at least five games this season — with up to 10 possible throughout the year.