With the NIL era taking over college athletics, it’s now having an impact on the unofficial tipoff to college basketball for programs. And North Carolina is the latest program to switch things up.
The classic Blue-White scrimmage will still take place ahead of the 2024-25 season but will be off campus. That means the “Live Action With Hubert Davis” is canceled, as the program has decided to do an event in Cherokee, N.C. per Inside Carolina:
The Tar Heels will participate in that preseason event on Oct. 13 at Harrah’s Cherokee Resort Event Center, which allows for opportunities in the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) space. Two days later, the Tar Heels are scheduled to play an Oct. 15 charity exhibition game at Memphis.
The Blue-White scrimmage thus becomes the third event on UNC’s preseason basketball slate. The Tar Heels also meet Division II program Johnson C. Smith on Oct. 27 at the Smith Center for a final exhibition tune-up. Their season opener is Nov. 4 against Elon. UNC’s non-conference schedule for the regular season previously was announced, while the ACC league schedule is expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
That’s disappointing for students at North Carolina as the “Live Action” formerly known as “Late Night” appears to be dead. Moving this event off-campus allows for NIL opportunities to benefit the players, which makes sense.
But it comes at the expense of students and fans to want to experience the annual event in the Dean Dome.
The Blue-White game won’t be anything new as it was a tradition for the program before Roy Williams arrived and switched it to the “Late Night with Roy” event.
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