ESPN to broadcast NC State-Virginia game from Brazil in 2026

The NFL isn’t the only American football organization looking to make waves abroad. Next season, the ACC will look to make its mark.

On Monday, the ACC announced that next year’s conference slate will kickoff on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a matchup between the NC State Wolfpack and the Virginia Cavaliers. It will be the first-ever FBS college football game played in South America. The game will be played at Nilton Santos Stadium, the home venue for Brazilian football club Botafogo.

ESPN, which owns exclusive broadcast rights for the ACC through 2036, will televise the event. Per ESPN college football reporter Heather Dinich, “additional streaming possibilities” are “being discussed.”

“To have NC State and Virginia open our conference schedule on an international stage in Rio de Janeiro speaks to the vision, innovation, and collaboration of our league,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in the statement. “This is an extraordinary moment for the ACC and for college football.”

International college football games are nothing new. In fact, the tradition dates back to college football’s earliest days, when Harvard frequently traveled to Canada to play teams up north. Recently, Dublin, Ireland has become a popular spot for so-called Week 0 games, even earning visits from College GameDay. Earlier this year, the NFL played a game in São Paulo, marking the second consecutive season in which the league contested a game in Brazil.

Virginia will be the designated home team for the game, which will count towards each team’s conference record.

As far as the game itself is concerned, NC State and Virginia don’t exactly jump off the page as must-watch (even as the Cavaliers play for a College Football Playoff spot this weekend). However, the unique nature of it being the first FBS game to ever be contested in South America may draw some interest from streamers, and could attract a larger audience than it otherwise would have given the circumstances.