{"id":1254,"date":"2026-06-06T16:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T16:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2026-06-06T16:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T16:06:21","slug":"why-south-carolina-owes-north-carolina-1-million-for-canceling-football-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1254","title":{"rendered":"Why South Carolina owes North Carolina $1 million for canceling football series"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Carolina agreed to pay North Carolina $1 million to get out of an upcoming home-and-home football series, according to a cancellation letter obtained by The State via public records request.<\/p>\n

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When the cancellation was announced two weeks ago, South Carolina said in a news relase that it and UNC had \u201cmutually agreed\u201d to cancel<\/a> their 2028-29 home-and-home football series \u2014 language that typically conveys no payment.<\/p>\n

While non-conference cancellations have become common, paying for them is not. There was no money exchanged for South Carolina to get out of any other non-conference football series in the past year.<\/p>\n

In USC\u2019s cancellation letter to scrub a future home-and-home series with NC State, also obtained via records request, South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati wrote in December that the schools had agreed to the following terms:<\/p>\n

But the cancellation letter to UNC \u2014 written by Donati to UNC AD Bubba Cunningham on April 16, 2026 \u2014 states the Gamecocks must pay North Carolina $1 million \u201con or before August 1, 2026\u201d as a result of cancellation. Cunningham signed off on the request April 29.<\/p>\n

That indicated, as previously reported by the News & Observer,<\/a> that canceling the series was USC\u2019s call and UNC was still interested in playing the games.<\/p>\n

The series was the lone Power 4 home-and-home series still on South Carolina\u2019s schedule.<\/a> It would\u2019ve seen the Tar Heels come to Williams-Brice Stadium in 2028 and the Gamecocks make a return trip to Chapel Hill in 2029.<\/p>\n

The cancellation came in the wake of the SEC and ACC announcing they\u2019re shifting to nine-game conference schedules moving forward, which triggered South Carolina to proactively cancel its four future non-conference series against Power 4 schools not named Clemson: Miami (2026, 2027), Virginia Tech<\/a> (2034, 2035), NC State (2030, 2031) and North Carolina (2028, 2029).<\/p>\n

The $1 million cancellation figure was spelled out in the original USC-UNC game contract<\/a> \u2014 signed in November 2020 \u2014 which said that, if an extra conference game was mandated and one party wanted to cancel within three years of the matchup, it would cost $1 million to get out of the deal.<\/p>\n

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That number would have dipped to $500,000 if the cancellation came more than three years before the series began.<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> vs. Kent State (Sept. 5), vs. Towson (Sept. 12), at Clemson (Nov. 28)<\/p>\n

SEC:<\/b> vs. Georgia, vs. Kentucky, vs. Mississippi State, vs. Texas A&M, vs. Tennessee \/\/ at Florida, at Alabama, at Arkansas, at Oklahoma<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> vs. Furman, vs. App State, vs. Clemson<\/p>\n

SEC:<\/b> vs. Florida, vs. LSU, vs. Missouri, vs. Texas \/\/ at Georgia, at Kentucky, at Ole Miss, at Auburn, at Vanderbilt<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> vs. Bowling Green State, vs. Wofford, at Clemson<\/p>\n

SEC:<\/b> vs. Georgia, vs. Kentucky, vs. Alabama, vs. Arkansas, vs. Oklahoma \/\/ at Florida, at Texas A&M, at Mississippi State, at Tennessee<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> vs. App State, vs. Clemson<\/p>\n

SEC:<\/b> vs. Florida, vs. Ole Miss, vs. Auburn, vs. Vanderbilt \/\/ at Georgia, at Kentucky, at LSU, at Missouri, at Texas<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> vs. East Carolina, at Clemson<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> vs. Clemson<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> at App State, vs. Clemson<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> vs. App State, at Clemson<\/p>\n

NON-CONFERENCE:<\/b> vs. Clemson<\/p>\n

The State\u2019s Chapel Fowler<\/a> contributed reporting.<\/i><\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 1:08 PM<\/span> with the headline “Why South Carolina owes North Carolina $1 million for canceling football series.” <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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The South Carolina Gamecocks paid the North Carolina Tar Heels $1 million to get out of a non-conference home-and-home football series<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy South Carolina owes North Carolina $1 million for canceling football series - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=1254\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why South Carolina owes North Carolina $1 million for canceling football series - 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