Why South Carolina owes North Carolina $1 million for canceling football series
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.
When the cancellation was announced two weeks ago, South Carolina said in a news relase that it and UNC had “mutually agreed” to cancel their 2028-29 home-and-home football series — language that typically conveys no payment.
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.
In USC’s 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:
- “Cancellation of the game scheduled for September 14, 2030.”
- “Cancellation of the game scheduled for August 30, 2031.”
- “Neither institution will owe or be required to pay the other institution any compensation or liquidated damages for the cancellation.”
But the cancellation letter to UNC — written by Donati to UNC AD Bubba Cunningham on April 16, 2026 — states the Gamecocks must pay North Carolina $1 million “on or before August 1, 2026” as a result of cancellation. Cunningham signed off on the request April 29.
That indicated, as previously reported by the News & Observer, that canceling the series was USC’s call and UNC was still interested in playing the games.
The series was the lone Power 4 home-and-home series still on South Carolina’s schedule. It would’ve seen the Tar Heels come to Williams-Brice Stadium in 2028 and the Gamecocks make a return trip to Chapel Hill in 2029.
The cancellation came in the wake of the SEC and ACC announcing they’re 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 (2034, 2035), NC State (2030, 2031) and North Carolina (2028, 2029).
The $1 million cancellation figure was spelled out in the original USC-UNC game contract — signed in November 2020 — 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.
That number would have dipped to $500,000 if the cancellation came more than three years before the series began.
SOUTH CAROLINA FUTURE FOOTBALL SCHEDULES
2026
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Kent State (Sept. 5), vs. Towson (Sept. 12), at Clemson (Nov. 28)
SEC: vs. Georgia, vs. Kentucky, vs. Mississippi State, vs. Texas A&M, vs. Tennessee // at Florida, at Alabama, at Arkansas, at Oklahoma
2027
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Furman, vs. App State, vs. Clemson
SEC: vs. Florida, vs. LSU, vs. Missouri, vs. Texas // at Georgia, at Kentucky, at Ole Miss, at Auburn, at Vanderbilt
2028
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Bowling Green State, vs. Wofford, at Clemson
SEC: vs. Georgia, vs. Kentucky, vs. Alabama, vs. Arkansas, vs. Oklahoma // at Florida, at Texas A&M, at Mississippi State, at Tennessee
2029
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. App State, vs. Clemson
SEC: vs. Florida, vs. Ole Miss, vs. Auburn, vs. Vanderbilt // at Georgia, at Kentucky, at LSU, at Missouri, at Texas
2030
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. East Carolina, at Clemson
2031
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Clemson
2032
NON-CONFERENCE: at Clemson
2033
NON-CONFERENCE: at App State, vs. Clemson
2034
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. App State, at Clemson
2035
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Clemson
The State’s Chapel Fowler contributed reporting.
This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 1:08 PM with the headline "Why South Carolina owes North Carolina $1 million for canceling football series."
