UVA Football: Still waiting on a signed contract for UVA-NC State game in Brazil

The ACC, UVA Athletics and NC State announced a week ago that the ‘Hoos and Wolfpack would be opening the 2026 football season in Brazil.

I’m learning tonight that the announcement was made without any amendment to the contract the two schools signed in 2024 to get a home-and-home nonconference series on the schedule for 2025 and 2026.

---

ICYMI

• UVA Football: ‘Hoos going to Brazil, in search of ‘international presence’

---

Nor is there a fresh new contract spelling out details of the game on file with the University of Virginia.

I got that word from the UVA Freedom of Information Act office late Monday afternoon.

I then reached out to an athletics department spokesperson, who told me via email after hours on Monday that “at this time, there is not a contract to share.”

The 2024 contract between UVA and State spelled out that the home-and-home nonconference series would include a game in Raleigh in 2025 and a return game in Charlottesville in 2026.

Per the 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.

---

ICYMI

• 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

---

The circumstances have certainly now changed with UVA’s home game moving to Brazil, to be played as a Week 0 game on Aug. 29, 2026, in Nilton Santos Stadium – capacity: 44,661 – in Rio de Janeiro.

One, the game is also now an ACC game, and not a nonconference game.

Two, it strains credulity that UVA Athletics would give up a home game without getting a substantial amount of money in return.

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 expect the game in Brazil should bring in, I’d point you 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.

---

ICYMI

• How much is UVA Football getting for WVU games in Charlotte in 2026, 2032?

---

Both programs are 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, also agreed to in 2024.

I would expect that both Virginia and NC State are getting money for their trouble of moving their 2026 game to the other side of the world.

But then, I would also expect that those details would have been agreed to ahead of the public announcement.