Chapel Bill is just over one month away from making his North Carolina Tar Heels coaching debut, and ESPN is hoping for a pop in viewership for those games.
ESPN is set to air between eight and 10 of Bill Belichick’s games this season, depending on whether or not UNC is relegated to The CW at some point this year. As such, there’s little doubt the network will be leaning into Belichick and the Tar Heels no matter how they’re performing on the field.
And luckily for ESPN, there’s already a model for how to go about programming the “big name coach making his college rounds.” Look no further than one Deion Sanders, head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes. Coach Prime’s viewership dominance has been well-documented, especially in his first year as the Buffs’ head coach. Now, ESPN would like to replicate that formula with Belichick. The question is, is that possible?
According to one ESPN programmer, the jury is out. “We have to wait and see. The potential is there,” Kurt Dargis, ESPN senior director of programming and acquisitions told Front Office Sports. During Sanders’ debut year with Colorado, the Buffaloes made waves from a ratings standpoint. Through the first month of that season, Colorado played in either the most-watched or the second most-watched game every week. The Buffs even drew 9.3 million viewers for a 10 p.m. ET kickoff against Colorado State that season, the most-watched game of the week.
Bill Belichick could bring a similar level of intrigue this year. UNC opens its season against TCU which, ironically, was also Deion Sanders’ first opponent while at Colorado. That game drew 7.26 million viewers in the Big Noon Saturday slot on Fox in 2023. UNC’s game against the Horned Frogs is slated for Labor Day Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. Given the standalone nature of that game, it could very well beat Sanders’ debut two years ago.
Ultimately, it’s reasonable to expect the Tar Heels’ season to start strong from a viewership standpoint and then taper off as the novelty of Bill Belichick coaching a college team wears off. However, that can all change should UNC put up a strong record and contend for a playoff spot.
At the end of the day, ESPN is in a pretty enviable position. No matter what, UNC this season is a much bigger draw than they were last year. That itself is a big win for the Worldwide Leader.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.