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UNC Charlotte pulls out of Nov. game against ODU
A bitter scheduling dispute between Old Dominion and UNC Charlotte has resulted in the 49ers canceling its football game at Foreman Field that was scheduled for Nov. 16.
Charlotte informed ODU it was pulling out of the game earlier this week, just four months before it was to be played, according to sources from several schools attending today’s Conference USA’s football media day in suburban Dallas.
The 49ers’ move comes only a week after ODU canceled a game at Charlotte in 2014. That contest was supposed to be the second game of a two-game series.
The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the subject.
There was no immediate confirmation from ODU or Charlotte. ODU athletic director Wood Selig declined comment through a university spokeswoman. Charlotte spokesman Tom Whitestone said, via email, that he “had no news to report on that.”
However, the football press guide ODU distributed to the media this morning listed the opponent for Nov. 16 as “TBA” and did not list Charlotte among ODU’s opponents.
The cancellation leaves ODU with the difficult task of finding a team to play on very short notice. No Division I teams appear to have an open date on Nov. 16, so ODU is left with the unenviable option of trying to schedule a Division II or NAIA school.
The cancellation leaves Charlotte with ten games, but sources said the 49ers lined up a Football Championship Subdivision opponent for an open date on Sept. 21 before cancelling the game.
The cancellation could deal a financial blow to ODU. The school sold more than 15,000 season tickets, luxury suites, loge seats and sponsorships based on a six-game home schedule. If ODU is unable to find a sixth opponent, the school might have to refund hundreds of thousands of dollars in ticket and perhaps adjust sponsorship figures.
The dust-up is an embarrassment to Conference USA as media day began this morning. The two schools joined C-USA on July 1, but ODU doesn’t begin playing C-USA football until next season, and Charlotte not until 2015. They were invited to today’s event as a courtesy.
Sources said commissioner Britt Banowsky was asked to mediate but was unable to bring the sides together.
Banowsky worked behind the scenes to persuade Fox College Sports, a regional network, to broadcast the ODU-Charlotte game. That cancellation leaves Fox Sports, one of C-USA’s two television partners, with a potential hole in its schedule for that day.
The cancellation could also create a chasm between two urban universities with a long history of competition. Both were members of the Sun Belt Conference in the 1980s and early 1990s, and they continued to play in many sports when they left for other leagues.
Charlotte officials have in part modeled the start-up of their football program after ODU, which began playing football in 2009. Charlotte plays its first season this fall.
Charlotte officials visited Norfolk two years ago and consulted with Selig, coach Bobby Wilder and senior associate athletic director Bruce Stewart on how to begin football.
Next season, when ODU becomes a full-fledged C-USA football member, Charlotte will be its closest conference rival.
Sources said Charlotte officials have been trying to cancel the series for more than a year. Charlotte officials told ODU they viewed the series, which was finalized two years ago, as a mistake because it was coming so early in the development of their program.
ODU, which is playing under Football Bowl Subdivision rules this season, will have more than 80 scholarship players this fall. Charlotte is playing under the FCS limit of 63 scholarships.
When the contract was signed two years ago, both schools were expecting to be in FCS in 2013 and 2014."
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