BLACKSBURG 鈥 Virginia Tech made its first significant change to its future nonconference football schedules Thursday by renegotiating the remaining part of its lengthy series with Old Dominion.
Both programs announced that four future matchups are canceled. The teams meet in Week 3 at Lane Stadium this season, and the remaining two games in the series will be played in Blacksburg in 2026 and 2030.
Tech鈥檚 2028 home game against ODU was canceled, along with the Monarchs鈥 home dates against the Hokies in 2027, 2029 and 2031.
鈥淲e need flexibility," Hokies coach Brent Pry said after Thursday鈥檚 practice. 鈥溾 To be able to build this schedule out the way we need to, to have the strength of schedule, to have the home games that we need, to have the viewership we need and to have a schedule that鈥檚 conducive to winning, it takes a ton of work and flexibility gives you some options to make the schedule the way you need it to be. So we鈥檝e got a lot of work to do.鈥
People are also reading…
As part of the agreement, the Virginia Tech men鈥檚 basketball team will host ODU no later than the 2027-28 season.
The Hokies and Monarchs are scheduled to play this season on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. in Blacksburg in what was to be the seventh meeting in a 13-game series that was slated to conclude in 2031.
The teams initially agreed to a two-for-one series in 2012, and four games were added the following year to make it a six-game series that began in 2017 and concluded this season. In the months leading up to the first matchup, the teams announced six more games in the series that alternated between Blacksburg and Norfolk.
The six games that were added between 2026-31 featured the home team in the series paying a $250,000 guarantee to essentially cover the visiting team鈥檚 travel costs.
ODU athletic director Wood Selig said in a release Thursday that this season鈥檚 contest and the 2026 and 2030 contests were 鈥渃onverted 鈥 into guaranteed games for Old Dominion.鈥
The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press reported the Hokies will pay the Monarchs $400,000 for the 2025 game, $1.1 million for the 2026 games and $1.275 million for the 2030 game.
鈥淚 appreciate Old Dominion working with us,鈥 Pry said. 鈥淎nd I appreciate the work that Whit (Babcock, Virginia Tech athletic director) did to get it done.鈥
The move to renegotiate the series comes as Virginia Tech enters the ACC鈥檚 new era of revenue distribution.
The revenue distribution model centers around the league鈥檚 media rights deal with ESPN through 2036. Previously, the league evenly distributed the yearly media rights to league members. The new model will see 40% of the television money distributed evenly among the 14 long-standing ACC members (this excludes newcomers SMU, California and Stanford), and the other 60% will be distributed based on a ratings-based formula over a five-year rolling average.
The deal with ODU allows the Hokies to find future nonconference opponents that will attract viewers to tune into the games.
Hokies coach Brent Pry said last week at ACC football media days that his ideal schedule would feature seven home games every season (four in league play and three in nonconference play) and a neutral-site contest against a Power Four opponent.
The other three nonconference contests would feature at least one other Power Four opponent and an FCS program.
The Hokies鈥 2027 nonconference schedule features home games against Liberty (Sept. 4) and Maryland (Sept. 18) and a road game against Notre Dame (Nov. 6). The 2028 slate has home matchups with Liberty (Sept. 2) and Notre Dame (Nov. 4) along with a road contest against Maryland (Sept. 16).
Tech鈥檚 2029 schedule features home games against Liberty (Sept. 1) and Maryland (Sept. 15) and a road game against Arizona (Sept. 8). The 2030 schedule opens with a home game against Arizona, back-to-back road games against Liberty and BYU, followed by the final matchup with ODU.
