News broke early on Friday that Nebraska had cancelled its home and home series with Tennessee for 2026 and 2027. Tennessee’s athletic director even took to social media to voice his disappointment in Nebraska. And of course, social media was set ablaze with people saying Nebraska backed out of a challenge and it was a bad look. So, what’s the story behind all of this?
It’s actually pretty simple. Nebraska was previously supposed to start this home and home with Tennessee a few years back, but Tennessee asked Nebraska to reschedule it so they could play Virginia Tech at a Nascar Track – I believe it was at Bristol Motor Speedway. Nebraska agreed. Now, this time the Huskers asked Tennessee to reschedule this series because they are going to be in the middle of renovating the stadium, and seating capacity would be much lower for the home game. Nebraska, concerned about money especially with revenue sharing on the horizon, wanted to ensure they could get an extra home game during the year they were supposed to play Tennessee on the road and be at full capacity when they play Tennessee at home. Oddly, Tennessee said no, so the Huskers backed out all together opting to make the extra revenue from an 8th home game versus keeping the series. This has zero to do with anything else.
Nebraska will reportedly be on the hook to pay 1 million dollars for backing out of the deal. They will still make more money then they lose by having that extra home game, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
Reminder that Nebraska is in the middle of many stadium projects right now – turf, alcohol sales, new food vendors, and the stadium renovation project. With revenue sharing on the horizon, the Huskers need that extra home game. Tennessee could have shown Nebraska the same courtesy, but they didn’t for whatever reason. It is what it is.
Go Big Red.