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ESPN carried a lone Labor Day college football game in prime time — a Monday night college football broadcast with much fanfare because it heralded the college football coaching debut of Bill Belichick.
What wasn’t expected was the outcome — TCU trounced North Carolina 48–14.
Bill Belichick has the same sideline demeanor and attire in the NCAA as he did in the NFL.
North Carolina alumni stars Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, and Lawrence Taylor were all in attendance, but the sellout crowd thinned by the third quarter when the score turned lopsided.
Critics quickly called it a “disaster,” “embarrassing” and a “disappointment,” but TCU has had a dominant record the last several years compared with UNC’s more modest record, including 8–5 record last season. Expectations were unfairly high for the Tar Heels.
UNC football may have stumbled in its opening game and its lineup and coaching staff may be new (40 transfers), but longer term, the program may be on the rise and, for once, football — not basketball — is driving a national conversation for UNC.
Sports media are piling on Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels. Dan Patrick, Pat McAfee, Colin Cowherd, Shannon Sharpe — just about every sports radio and TV host has something negative to say.
The hype was unreal and unrealistic.
With all the negativity toward Belichick for an opening night loss against a soon-to-be-ranked team, is there schadenfreude for Belichick for the poor way he treated media during required NFL press conferences? Deflategate? Spygate? That he only won Super Bowls in New England with Tom Brady? Or is it his 50+ year age-gap relationship?
Similarly, Deion Sanders, debuted as the Colorado football head coach in 2023 with an unfortunate 4-8 record his first season but then had an impressive 9-4 season in 2024.
Even if Belichick flames out, UNC athletics benefits with more attention, stronger NIL opportunities and a growing focus beyond basketball. The Chapel Hill university can become more of a power in other sports with the attention.
Bottom line: regardless of wins and losses, UNC football is in the spotlight and potentially on the rise — that boosts the athletic program.
Welcome 👋 to the Fall season. And now we’re Top 30%.
Labor Day is behind us and that’s now the unofficial start of fall. Look for pumpkin spice everywhere though it’s already at Starbucks. In Southern California, we have a heat wave because September is often the hottest month of the year now.
Also, we were a Top 40% most read newsletter last week but climbed to Top 30% this week. Exciting!
This week, our attention turns to football as the first weekend with all teams was last weekend and the NFL season … starts tomorrow with another game on Friday from Brazil.
I’m a big football person so expect to see a lot of football. But I’m really favorable about women’s sports and so many other sports, that I can’t just focus on football.
Speaking of football, I went to a high school game for the first time in years last weekend and enjoyed it, though my alma mater lost. After the CTE scare, parents weren’t letting their kids play football as much, so football added rules to make it safer. Then, COVID-19 wiped out high school sports so people turned to devices and social media. So it’s great seeing hundreds of high school students out on a Friday night focused on athletics.
High school football
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The Tush Push gets a sponsor … DUDE Wipes
Let the laughter begin. The controversial Tush Push — the Philadelphia Eagles’ short yardage play that looks like a rugby scrum with running backs pushing on quarterback Jalen Hurts from behind, now has an official sponsor in DUDE Wipes.
Get it? The wipes are made for the tush.
It’s a great endorsement even for those who despise the Tush Push. People eat often unhealthy fried foods while watching football games and they need to use the restroom. That’s where DUDE Wipes comes in. This works.
From DUDE Wipe’s press release:
The partnership will include an ongoing series of collaborative social content throughout the 2025 NFL season, product sampling at team-hosted events, and post-game radio highlighting the team's successful Tush Pushes. The partnership will kick off ahead of the team's home opener on Thursday, September 4 against the division rival Dallas Cowboys.
"It only feels right for DUDE Wipes to be the official sponsor of the Tush Push," said Ryan Meegan, CMO and co-founder, DUDE Wipes. "We're always looking for bold and unconventional ways to inject the brand into cultural conversations in a distinctly DUDE-ified way and this partnership is a perfect fit."
This bizarre marketing photo shows the Eagles’ mascot snapping the ball to the DUDE Wipes mascot to re-create the Tush Push. (DUDE Wipes)
Do Division I student-athletes need free Chipotle meals?
Chipotle awarded meal cards to 2,000 athletes during their seasons at Ohio State, Georgia and Florida. The QSR Mexican food chain only made this offer to Ohio State last year but expanded to all three schools who are expected to be among the most successful in athletics.
The offer is for one free meal for 15 weeks. Estimating a meal is around $15, that’s roughly $225 per athlete for the 15 weeks or $450,000 total retail price for all 2,000 athletes. But Chipotle pays wholesale food prices so it may be closer to $200,000, minus taxes, labor and other overhead. Chipotle is also donating $100,000 cash toward academic programs at Florida and Ohio State — not sure why Georgia was left out of that offer.
Athletes are seen in uniform holding up their personalized Chipotle meal cards. Maybe wrapped burritos or bowls would have made for a better visual because they’re larger? (Chipotle)
Ads were created with star athletes to promote Chipotle. They are expected to be paid in cash, not free meals.
Division I scholarship athletes receive free meals through their programs and a weekly stipend to pay for food and essentials. A free $15 meal per week may not be frequently used, especially considering athletes are in the midst of training, travel and competitions. Walk-ons, who may not have the same luxuries, were also given meal cards and seem to have more benefits.
Maybe next year Chipotle can target 2,000 walk-ons at Division I schools. Or encourage athletes to host local youth groups and charities at Chipotle locations. That offer seems more compelling.
Florida athletes have Chipotle meal cards with their names, too.
Not so fast, Georgia is another SEC school with athletes getting free Chipotle meals once a week for 15 weeks.
Travis Kelce’s Tru Kolors teams up with American Eagle for limited collection
The day after his engagement announcement, Travis Kelce joined American Eagle to announce a limited edition fashion line in his Tru Kolors brand.
The collection features more than 90 pieces, including reimagined varsity jackets, rugby polos and vintage-inspired tees.
The Kelce timing could not be any better for American Eagle.
The brand was no doubt not only eager to leverage a partnership with the popular NFL player, podcaster and new fiancee but also to move on from its disastrous Sydney Sweeney jeans/genes advertising controversy this past summer.
A data analytics firm for retail expects the Travis Kelce clothing line to perform extremely well, especially with the influence of women encouraging boyfriends and husbands to buy the collection because of their interest in Taylor Swift and Kelce.
Also, even though the NFL announced a partnership with AE rival Abercrombie & Fitch, having marquee players on two popular Gen Z fashion retail brands no doubt helps the league’s popularity away from the sport.
Muted colors of similar hues for Tru Kolors by Travis Kelce.
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Keep This Stock Ticker on Your Watchlist
They’re a private company, but Pacaso just reserved the Nasdaq ticker “$PCSO.”
No surprise the same firms that backed Uber, eBay, and Venmo already invested in Pacaso. What is unique is Pacaso is giving the same opportunity to everyday investors. And 10,000+ people have already joined them.
Created a former Zillow exec who sold his first venture for $120M, Pacaso brings co-ownership to the $1.3T vacation home industry.
They’ve generated $1B+ worth of luxury home transactions across 2,000+ owners. That’s good for more than $110M in gross profit since inception, including 41% YoY growth last year alone.
And you can join them today for just $2.90/share. But don’t wait too long. Invest in Pacaso before the opportunity ends September 18.
Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.
Sports Marketing Job Openings Hiatus
This feature is on hiatus this week and will return next week with new job openings.
The Call Stands — What and Who We’re Watching
Eleven college football stars signed NIL deals with SeatGeek, the secondary ticket marketplace. All players will endorse the website with their own custom discount codes. Players hail from schools including Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Auburn, Michigan, LSU, Georgia, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. (Business of College Sports)
Florida quarterback DJ Lagway became the first college football quaterback to sign with Nike’s Jordan Brand. (SI)
In other shoe news, two Arizona State football stars joined the impressive adidas lineup. (SI)
Yahoo Sports points out that at least one college football star can’t benefit from NIL deals. Navy quarterback Black Horvath led the Midshipshipmen to a 10-3 record last year but he can’t benefit from NIL offers because athletes at the service academies are ineligible for NIL payments. He also didn’t want to transfer. (Yahoo)
After expanding her Nike deal with her own logo, apparel line and upcoming shoe, Caitiln Clark now has an official Stanley 1313 cup — the sipping tumbler, not the heavy hockey trophy. (Yahoo)
Overtime
Hope you’re enjoying the Game Changers newsletter.
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