The UVA Football game with NC State that apparently was never really going to be played in Brazil, since the University doesn’t appear to have ever signed a contract to move the already-scheduled game there, is still, for some reason, going to be played early, on Saturday, Aug. 29, the ACC announced on Tuesday.
Why?
That’s not so much a question as, a plaintive wail.
Word from the ACC is that the NCAA approved a waiver to keep the game as a Week 0, which, I guess, we’re all still supposed to pretend that it was always going to be a Week 0 game down in Brazil.
ICYMI: UVA Football Brasil
- UVA Football: 2026 NC State game moving to Brazil? Massive FU to fanbase, if so
- UVA Football: No contract on file for a Virginia-NC State football game in Brazil in 2026
- UVA Football: Still waiting on a signed contract for UVA-NC State game in Brazil
- Update: Still no contract on file for UVA-NC State football game in Brazil
- Update on the home game UVA Football fans lost to Brazil: Still nothing
- UVA Football: ACC announces kickoff time for season opener in Brazil
- UVA Football: Brazil season opener that probably never was is no more
- UVA Athletics never had a contract on file for a football game in Brazil
The UVA-State game was originally slated to be a nonconference game, back when the two schools agreed in 2024 to play a home-and-home.
The first game in the series was played in 2025 in Raleigh; the second game, in 2026, was to be played in Charlottesville.
Then, in November, it emerged that the ACC really, really, really wanted the game to be moved to Brazil, and played as a conference game.
The two schools then went about the process of trying to sell ticket and travel packages to their respective fan bases.
We have to presume that this part of the game didn’t go so well.
Last month, the Brazil part of the game was called off.
I’ve been trying since last November to get my hands on a copy of the revised contract for the game – the original contract for the series called for no money to change hands between the schools, because of the home-and-home arrangement.
The FOIA office at UVA told me numerous times that they had no records responsive to my requests for a copy of the contract.
PackPower247 was able to get a copy of the contract that NC State had on file related to the game.
The NC State side of the contract, dated Nov. 15, 2025, included a $2 million participation fee, 10 percent of net revenues from the sale of fan travel packages, not to exceed $500,000, and 20 percent of net revenues from sponsorships referred to the event organizer, Athlete Advantage – with a $1.5 million cancellation fee.
The UVA side, apparently, was just going to pay their own way down there and back, and maybe sell a few T-shirts and hats to whoever was there to do what they could to cover expenses.
Anyway, common sense would seem to have dictated that, with the Brazil charade having been dispensed with, we’d go back to playing this one on Labor Day weekend.
So much for common sense.
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Chris Graham
