MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When West Virginia’s football team takes on Virginia at Bank of America Stadium in Week 3 of the 2026 season, it will mark the Mountaineers’ first neutral-site regular season game since the 2018 season opener against Tennessee at the venue that serves as the Carolina Panthers’ home.
It will also be the first for WVU since Vice President/Director of Athletics Wren Baker began in that position in December 2022.
At least two others in Charlotte will follow in the not too distant future starting with a 2028 contest against Tennessee before the Mountaineers and Cavaliers square off again in 2032.
“There’s a baseline number of games we expect to play in Morgantown and are we hitting that? It’s pretty non-negotiable that we’re always wanting at least six games in Morgantown, and we’d really like to have seven,” Baker said. “But if you’re given the opportunity to play the right opponent, the financials make sense and it’s in a place where you’re trying to engage donors and alums … the Charlotte area for instance is always a place where we do really well, so that’s a place where we’ve really tried to plant a flag in terms of being there.”
WVU was slated to play at East Carolina in the upcoming season and agreed to pay a $300,000 buyout for canceling the game and replacing it to instead face the Cavaliers in the regular season for the first time in 41 years.
In an agreement with Charlotte Sports Events for the 2026 and 2032 contests, both WVU and Virginia are promised the greater of a $2 million guarantee of 45 percent of the net revenue for both games, meaning each school is assured no less than $4 million.
WVU will play seven home games this season, including five within the Big 12. The Mountaineers will also have seven next season with four against conference competition and matchups with Southern Miss, VMI and Ohio.
Non-league home games Akron and Youngstown State are slated for 2028, meaning the Mountaineers would also have seven at home that season, while 2029 would be the next year with six as the Backyard Brawl series restarts that season in Pittsburgh.
“You want to do what’s right by the state and community, but certain neutral-site games give you an opportunity to draw revenue, hit a broader audience or play an opponent that maybe doesn’t have opportunities in their schedule to do two games, so you’re doing one,” Baker said. “Then the other aspect that plays into that now is NIL opportunities. Some of those games present a NIL opportunity for the athletes on your roster and as you’re trying to grow that above cap revenue, that’s part of the conversation as well.”
Neutral-site opportunities, particularly ones involving Name, Image and Likeness opportunities extend well beyond football.
The WVU men’s basketball team is assured of three games in the Players Era 8 next season in Las Vegas, including a November 17 matchup with Auburn and one the next day against Kansas or UNLV.
The Players Era 8 and Players Era 16 will be held over consecutive weeks in Las Vegas, expanding a tournament that began in 2024 with eight teams, each of which were promised at least $1 million in NIL opportunities.
“When you look at things like NET scores, RPI and some of those other metric systems, some of those neutral-site games are a good compromise, especially in basketball, because you don’t get hit as hard as if you lose it at home,” Baker said. “You kind of mitigate the loss a little bit and inflate the win by playing it at a neutral site. A lot of times when you throw that into the equation and weigh those factors, it becomes the best decision.”