With extra neutral-site video games within the offing, Baker believes advantages might be two fold

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When West Virginia’s soccer workforce takes on Virginia at Bank of America Stadium in Week 3 of the 2026 season, it can mark the Mountaineers’ first neutral-site common season sport for the reason that 2018 season opener in opposition to Tennessee on the venue that serves because the Carolina Panthers’ residence.

It may even be the primary for WVU since Vice President/Director of Athletics Wren Baker started in that place in December 2022.

At least two others in Charlotte will comply with within the not too distant future beginning with a 2028 contest in opposition to Tennessee earlier than the Mountaineers and Cavaliers sq. off once more in 2032.

“There’s a baseline number of games we expect to play in Morgantown and are we hitting that? It’s pretty non-negotiable that we’re always wanting at least six games in Morgantown, and we’d really like to have seven,” Baker mentioned. “But if you’re given the opportunity to play the right opponent, the financials make sense and it’s in a place where you’re trying to engage donors and alums … the Charlotte area for instance is always a place where we do really well, so that’s a place where we’ve really tried to plant a flag in terms of being there.”

WVU was slated to play at East Carolina within the upcoming season and agreed to pay a $300,000 buyout for canceling the sport and changing it to as an alternative face the Cavaliers within the common season for the primary time in 41 years.

In an settlement with Charlotte Sports Events for the 2026 and 2032 contests, each WVU and Virginia are promised the better of a $2 million assure of 45 p.c of the online income for each video games, that means every faculty is assured a minimum of $4 million.

WVU will play seven residence video games this season, together with 5 throughout the Big 12. The Mountaineers may even have seven subsequent season with 4 in opposition to convention competitors and matchups with Southern Miss, VMI and Ohio.

Non-league residence video games Akron and Youngstown State are slated for 2028, that means the Mountaineers would even have seven at residence that season, whereas 2029 could be the subsequent yr with six because the Backyard Brawl sequence restarts that season in Pittsburgh.

“You want to do what’s right by the state and community, but certain neutral-site games give you an opportunity to draw revenue, hit a broader audience or play an opponent that maybe doesn’t have opportunities in their schedule to do two games, so you’re doing one,” Baker mentioned. “Then the other aspect that plays into that now is NIL opportunities. Some of those games present a NIL opportunity for the athletes on your roster and as you’re trying to grow that above cap revenue, that’s part of the conversation as well.” 

Neutral-site alternatives, significantly ones involving Name, Image and Likeness alternatives lengthen nicely past soccer.

The WVU males’s basketball workforce is assured of three video games within the Players Era 8 subsequent season in Las Vegas, together with a November 17 matchup with Auburn and one the subsequent day in opposition to Kansas or UNLV. 

The Players Era 8 and Players Era 16 might be held over consecutive weeks in Las Vegas, increasing a event that started in 2024 with eight groups, every of which had been promised at the very least $1 million in NIL alternatives. 

“When you look at things like NET scores, RPI and some of those other metric systems, some of those neutral-site games are a good compromise, especially in basketball, because you don’t get hit as hard as if you lose it at home,” Baker mentioned. “You kind of mitigate the loss a little bit and inflate the win by playing it at a neutral site. A lot of times when you throw that into the equation and weigh those factors, it becomes the best decision.”