The UVA-NC State football game that the ACC announced way back in December would be played in Brazil, but then, the UVA FOIA office never could seem to find a contract for, is no longer going to be played in Brazil, if it ever was.
This came in the email from UVA Athletics Tuesday morning at 11:30 a.m.:
Following extensive review with operational partners and international stakeholders, the 2026 NC State at Virginia football game, originally scheduled to be played in Brazil, will be relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia, for this conference matchup.
This change follows communication from Athlete Advantage, which informed the ACC and participating schools that the event could not be conducted.
Originally scheduled to be played in Week 0, the ACC, NC State and Virginia are working with the NCAA and ESPN to confirm the game will remain on the originally scheduled date of Saturday, August 29.
Fans who purchased tickets or travel packages for the event through the official College Football Brasil website will receive refunds. Refund administration is being coordinated through applicable ticketing, payment processing, and event partners.
Further details on tickets for the game at Scott Stadium will be forthcoming.
This is the first I’m hearing of this Athlete Advantage entity in relation to this game.
Per the company’s website, Athlete Advantage:
builds innovative revenue solutions across collegiate athletics and higher education through events, experiences, and original content. Our team partners with universities, conferences, and enterprise organizations to create sustainable growth models that enhance fan engagement and strengthen the student-athlete experience
Which sounds, you know, quite impressive.
A press release on the Athlete Advantage website about the scheduled UVA-NC State game told us that the game was to be:
powered by Athlete Advantage, in partnership with Brasil Sports Business, and with the full support of the Governor of the Rio de Janeiro State, Claudio Castro, and the city of Rio de Janeiro through the Mayor Eduardo Paes, highlighting one of the world’s premier sports cities.
We have to guess here that Athlete Advantage wasn’t able to power things up enough to make the game work from a financial standpoint.
Go figure there: the cheapo package for fans wishing to fly 12-14 hours to Brazil for the game was to run $2,495 for a single traveler and $3,295 for two, airfare not included.
Factor in another $1,100 per person for round-trip air travel – and another 12-14 hours getting back home.
Guess they couldn’t find a lot of takers from Stateside, or enough locals interested in American football.
What this means for the bottom line of UVA Athletics is, your guess is as good as mine.
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
Because the UVA FOIA office wasn’t able to find a contract for the game in its system, after we asked multiple times, we don’t know what UVA Athletics was set to receive from the game.
The Daily Progress reported today that NC State was going to get $2 million, so we could presume that UVA, as the school giving up the home game, would at least get that much.
I did the math on this earlier, and after reviewing records for the past three seasons of home games, my best guesstimate is that a home game at Scott Stadium is worth $1.5 million in ticket sales alone, and a conference home opener could fetch closer to $2 million.
For reference on what I would have expected the game in Brazil to bring in, I pointed to the deal that UVA Athletics struck with the Charlotte Sports Foundation for the two-game series with West Virginia for games in 2026 and 2032.
Both UVA and WVU are being guaranteed $2 million per game, with sellouts leading to payouts of $3.31 million per school per contest, per the details of the contract for the UVA-WVU series, which was agreed to in 2024.
UVA and NC State had agreed, also in 2024, to play a home-and-home nonconference series, since at the time the schools weren’t scheduled to meet in ACC play until well out into the future.
Per that contract, neither school would be paying the other a money guarantee, since the two were set to play each other in their respective home stadiums.
UVA and State played their nonconference game in Raleigh in Week 2 of the 2025 season.
The 2026 game, as noted above, will be a conference game, now that the ACC has moved to a nine-game conference schedule.
My best guess is, UVA Athletics will come out, at worst, break-even here.
With the Charlotte game as a guide, we probably make a million or so if the game is a sellout, or close to it.
They wouldn’t be moving the game back Stateside if it was a sellout, or close to it.
Support AFP
Share
Chris Graham
