Nebraska AD Troy Dannen explains decision to cancel Tennessee series in 2026-27

After news broke of plans to cancel Nebraska and Tennessee’s series in 2026 and 2027, Cornhuskers AD Troy Dannen addressed the decision. He pointed out the impact of the Memorial Stadium renovations in the decision to cancel.

Dannen joined HuskerOnline’s Sean Callahan and Steven Sipple on HuskerOnline Headlines to discuss the move, which leaves openings for both teams’ schedules. He said the renovations played a pivotal role in the conversations because the stadium will have reduced capacity.

Dannen confirmed Nebraska approached Tennessee about potentially postponing the series again, but the Vols couldn’t. As a result, the games won’t take place.

“It’s really tied to the stadium renovation project,” Dannen said. “As months have gone on and we’ve really gotten our plans for what we want to do, it’s become more and more obvious that we were going to be down capacity in ’27, and there’s just no way around it. So from a financial standpoint, the idea of playing seven games at a 20% reduced capacity in 2027 was going to be a real financial killer. And right now, as we try to implement the revenue-share model and everything else, eyes first and foremost, are focused on, are we going to be able to continue to fund ourselves? We looked and said, we need eight games that year with the stadium renovation.

“We approached Tennessee and said, hey, are you willing to push this back again? I know we already did it. But we did it at your request last time, so you can play that game at the racetrack. But could you push it back for us to accommodate this? They couldn’t, which I understand. No harm there. This was our decision and our call. If they couldn’t push it back and delay it, we’d just cancel the series.”

Troy Dannen: Cancellation ‘a long-term financial play’

Nebraska already added an eighth home game in 2027 against Miami (OH) to help make up for the revenue the school will lose. Dannen also said the Huskers had an FCS opening, which is why Northern Iowa is now on the schedule. The decision to cancel the Tennessee game, he said, was a “long-term” move.

“We’ve been working for the last couple of months on who can fit into those games,” Dannen said. “We had an FCS opening anyway, and that’s where Northern Iowa came from, and that had to be filled. Adding two MAC schools to replace games in those two years, which gives us seven and eight – eight in ’27, which essentially, the math works out, it gives us seven full home games or eight maybe reduced capacity games. It’s really a long-term financial play, based on the stadium being down, at least in part, in ’27.”

Tennessee AD Danny White also reacted to the decision while speaking with VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs, criticizing Nebraska for canceling the series so close to the year of the first game. He also noted the previous postponements of the agreement.