West Virginia buys out of 2026 football game at East Carolina

By Kevin Kelley -

The West Virginia Mountaineers are buying out of their football game against the East Carolina Pirates in 2026, according to a report from HoistTheColours on Tuesday.

West Virginia was scheduled to face East Carolina at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, N.C., on September 19, 2026. Per the report, the Mountaineers will pay the Pirates a $300,000 cancellation fee, which is the amount stated in the contract.

West Virginia and East Carolina originally agreed to a six-game football series back in 2008. Following an amendment several years later, the series was whittled down to two games with contests scheduled for Morgantown, W.Va., in 2017 and Greenville, N.C., in 2020. A second amendment was later agreed to, which moved the 2020 game to the 2026 season.

In that first contest in 2017, West Virginia defeated East Carolina in Morgantown, 56-20, and currently leads the overall series 19-3.

West Virginia is currently scheduled to open the 2026 season at home against the Alabama Crimson Tide. However, the Mountaineers are reportedly seeking to get out of that series, which also includes a game in Tuscaloosa, Ala., to open the 2027 season.

The only other non-conference opponent scheduled for West Virginia in 2026 is a home tilt against FCS UT Martin on Sept. 12.

As for East Carolina, the Pirates now have an opening on their non-conference schedule for 2026. ECU is scheduled to open the season with consecutive games at home against North Carolina Central on Sept. 5 and Appalachian State on Sept. 12. Two weeks later on Sept. 26, the Pirates are scheduled to visit Old Dominion.

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