I got a flood of questions from readers about the upcoming two-game series between UVA Football and WVU, with game dates announced for 2026 and 2032, and the games being played in Charlotte.
The common theme to the questions: why play those games at a neutral site instead of on campus?
My supposition: whoever down in Charlotte is putting the games on was offering the schools more money to play the games there than they could make on campus.
Looks like that is what’s going on here.
The details
I filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get a look at the contract between the schools and the games’ sponsor, Charlotte Sports Events LLC, which does business as the Charlotte Sports Foundation.
For background there, the Charlotte Sports Foundation is the nonprofit that puts on events like the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and a run of early-season college basketball neutral-site games.
UVA Basketball played in one of those last season, a November game with Florida, the one that had Cory Alexander refereeing from press row.
Here’s why you play these games: the contract for the UVA-WVU games guarantees each school $2 million as a floor, which for the UVA side is already better than you’re going to bring in for a home football Saturday.
The average ticket gate for UVA Football home games in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, from numbers available from Sportico, was $1.34 million.
The Sportico database doesn’t spell out what UVA Athletics makes from concessions, merchandise sales and sponsorships, so we’re not going entirely apples-for-apples comparing the $2 million guarantee from the Charlotte Sports Foundation and the $1.34 million from gameday ticket sales.
Just want to note that.
I will point out that, per Sportico, WVU averaged $2.14 million just in ticket sales for its home games in 2021 and 2022, and $417,597 per game in concessions and merchandise sales per game in those two seasons, so, the value of a WVU home game to the athletics department there is roughly $2.55 million.
The question, then, shouldn’t be, why is UVA playing these games in Charlotte, but rather, why is WVU giving up big gates in Morgantown to play a neutral-site game?
First answer: the $2 million guarantee is a floor.
The contract term sheet spells out that if the games in Charlotte are sellouts, the schools will bring home $3.31 million per game.
And keep in mind, that’s per game, as in, two payouts of $3.31 million per school per game.
If the two schools were playing each other in a home-and-home, they’d have to split the gates and ancillary revenues with the visitors, and, you’ve seen the math, it doesn’t add up to what the games in Charlotte are projected to reel in.
The poor attendance at UVA home games is a huge drag here.
Why does the Charlotte Sports Foundation go to all this trouble?
The games get people to drive to Charlotte, rent hotel rooms and eat in restaurants.
The Charlotte Sports Foundation projected its economic impact on Charlotte at $79.7 million for its events in calendar year 2023, with 70,500 hotel rooms booked by the 216,509 fans that attended one of the five events at Bank of America Stadium and the Spectrum Center.
The trick here is getting schools like a UVA or WVU where the fan bases are close enough to make the drive, but not close enough that they can drive down and back in one day.
It should be no surprise, then, that WVU is scheduled for another one of these Charlotte games, in 2028, with Tennessee on the other sideline.
This is your daily reminder that sports is a business, more than it’s sports.
Video: Why are UVA, West Virginia playing in Charlotte?
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Chris Graham
