Country singer Eric Chruch was supposed to play a concert in San Antonio on Saturday night. That isn’t going to happen though. He issued a statement earlier this week saying the show is canceled because the diehard North Carolina Tar Heels fan wants to watch his favorite team play archrival Duke in the Final Four. He is going to New Orleans instead of San Antonio.
While there are plenty of sports talk hosts that love country music, rarely are the personal lives and decisions of the genre’s biggest names fodder for content. That was the case on Wednesday though as many hosts used Church’s decision to debate the rules of fandom. That included in Charlotte, the biggest market near his hometown of Granite Falls, NC.
Eric Church found a lot of support for his decision amongst the sports media. ESPN’s Spencer Hall noted that this isn’t just any Final Four. If the Tar Heels win, it will end the career of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for UNC fans.
Plenty of hosts from across the world of sports radio weighed in with a mix of admiration and condemnation.
Jim Szoke from WBT and WFNZ in Charlotte pointed out that there is a whole subsection of fans that are likely miles away from San Antonio this doesn’t sit well with. You may have to be a resident of the Carolinas to know that Appalachian State University has a number of successful sports programs. It also happens to be where Eric Church went to college. Giving up a huge pay day to watch the University of North Carolina may not sit well with his fellow App State alums.
Fans that held tickets for the concert in San Antonio have been issued a refund. It stands to reason that Church will play in the city again sometime in the near future. Maybe this will be accepted as a no harm no foul situation sooner rather than later.
