First Duke vs. North Carolina Basketball Rivalry Bobblehead Unveiled to Celebrate Start of Season

This morning, to celebrate the start of the 2025-26 basketball season, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled the first Duke Blue vs. North Carolina Rivalry Bobblehead. The first Duke-Carolina Basketball Rivalry Bobblehead is being released in celebration of the teams tipping off their respective 2025-26 seasons, with North Carolina taking on Central Arkansas on Monday night in Chapel Hill and Duke facing off against Texas on Tuesday night in Charlotte. The 266th meeting between Duke and North Carolina will be played on Saturday, February 7th at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, and the 267th meeting between the teams will be played on Saturday, March 7th at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.

Since releasing our first Rivalry Bobblehead nearly 5 years ago, the Duke vs. North Carolina Rivalry Bobblehead has been one of the most requested. The officially licensed bobblehead features Duke’s mascot the Blue Devil and North Carolina’s mascot Rameses and commemorates the longtime basketball rivalry, which is better known as the “The Battle of the Blues” or “The Battle of Tobacco Road”. The bobblehead are now available exclusively from the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, an official licensee of Duke University and the University of North Carolina.

• The bobbleheads are now available exclusively in the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s Online Store at this link.
• The bobbleheads, which are expected to ship in February, are $50 each plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order.
• Each bobblehead will be individually numbered to 2,025.
• The first Duke-Carolina Basketball Rivalry Bobblehead being released in celebration of the teams tipping off their respective 2025-26 seasons, with North Carolina taking on Central Arkansas on Monday night in Chapel Hill and Duke facing off against Texas on Tuesday night in Charlotte.
• The 266th meeting between Duke and North Carolina will be played on Saturday, February 7th at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, and the 267th meeting between the teams will be played on Saturday, March 7th at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.
• Standing side-by-side on a basketball court base that reads “BLUE DEVILS VS TAR HEELS” across the front, Duke mascot Blue Devil and North Carolina mascot Rameses are wearing their respective uniforms while giving the No. 1 signal and holding a basketball adorned with their school logo.
• The Duke-Carolina basketball rivalry, which started in 1920, is considered one of the most intense rivalries in all of sports. The intensity of the rivalry is magnified for many reasons. One reason is the proximity of the two universities. They are located only 10 miles apart along U.S. Highway 15-501 (also known as Tobacco Road). One of the biggest reasons for the rivalry lies in the success of their respective programs. Almost every year, at least one of the schools is a contender to win the national championship.
• North Carolina leads the all-time series, 145-120, but Duke has won the last three meetings. Duke and Carolina played their first basketball game on January 24th, 1920, and the teams have met at least twice a year since then. The game frequently determines the Atlantic Coast Conference champion. Since the ACC’s founding in 1953, Duke and Carolina have combined to win or share 49 ACC regular season titles (77.7 percent of the total) and 38 tournament titles (59.4 percent of the total). The final game of the regular season for both schools alternates between Chapel Hill and Durham and has been played in Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1940 and the Dean E. Smith Center since 1986.
• “We’re excited to unveil the first Duke vs. North Carolina Basketball Rivalry Bobblehead ahead of the 2025-26 season openers for both teams,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “This bobblehead will be the perfect way for Duke and North Carolina fans, alumni, students, faculty, and staff to show off their school pride!”
• The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which is located at 170 S. 1st. St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, opened to the public on February 1st, 2019. The HOF and Museum also produces high quality, customized bobbleheads for retail sale as well as organizations, individuals, and teams across the country.