The Nebraska football team has canceled its upcoming home-and-home series with Tennessee as they get ready for renovations to Memorial Stadium. The Cornhuskers were supposed to host the Volunteers in 2026 and visit Knoxville in 2027. Nebraska will begin renovations on their stadium soon and it has created some scheduling concerns for the 2027 season.
“Sources: Tennessee and Nebraska are canceling their upcoming football series, which was schedule for 2026 in Lincoln and 2027 in Knoxville,” Pete Thamel said in a post. “A driver of the move was Nebraska wanting eight home games in 2027 when they expected reduced stadium capacity because of renovations.”
Having eight home games is the goal for the Nebraska football team during the 2027 season, and that is a big reason why they are cancelling this series with Tennessee.
“We are making plans to embark on major renovations of Memorial Stadium that may impact our seating capacity for the 2027 season,” Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen said, according to an article from Klin News Talk. “The best scenario for us is to have eight home games in 2027 to offset any potential revenue loss from a reduced capacity. The additional home games will also have a tremendous economic benefit on the Lincoln community.”
This series was obviously close to getting underway as there is only one more season before it, and the late cancellation date is disappointing for Tennessee athletic director Danny White.
“I’m disappointed Nebraska cancelled the series, especially at such a late date,” Danny White said, according to an article from 247Sports.
This cancellation isn’t free for the Nebraska football team. The Cornhuskers will have to pay $500,000 to get it done.
“Nebraska cancels home/home series w/Tennessee in 2026 & 2027. Cornhuskers must pay $500,000 to cancel series, which was agreed on in 2006 & scheduled for 2016-17,” Brett McMurphy said in a post. “However, series was moved back to 2026-27.”
This would’ve been a fun series to see as both of these schools have premier football programs, but the cancellation could actually end up being beneficial for both in terms of making a run to the College Football Playoff. Now that the CFP has expanded to 12 teams, there really isn’t a lot of incentive to schedule difficult non-conference games if you are in the Big Ten or SEC. These two teams will be tested enough during their conference slate, and having an extra loss on the non-conference schedule could be the difference between making the CFP and being left out.
After last season, we have been seeing a lot of people in the college football world point out the lack of incentive for scheduling these tough non-conference games. It’s good for the fans, but it’s an unnecessary, avoidable loss for one team.
It would’ve been cool to see the Nebraska football team go up against Tennessee in back-to-back seasons, but we will no longer see those matchups take place.
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