The University of North Carolina and North Carolina A&T have an agreement to play a football game later this decade.
North Carolina A&T will travel down I-40 to take on UNC in 2028, according to FBSchedules. A&T will receive $430,000 to travel a few counties over to take on the ACC squad in just over half a decade, per the report.
The game is set for Sept. 18, 2028 – for now. However, there is a clause that agrees to move the game to Week Zero of that season, which would be August 26 of that year. The Week Zero move is dependent on television as current NCAA bylaws state that Football Championship Subdivision programs can only play those games if televised nationally. The move to Week Zero would have to be made before Oct. 31, 2027.
That move would not be unprecedented for the University of North Carolina as last season’s game against Florida A&M was moved up to Week Zero in a game that was broadcast on the ACC Network.
The two schools have met before, with North Carolina coming away with an easy 53-14 win over A&T back in 2015. That game included a joint halftime performance between the Blue and Gold Marching Band with the Marching Tarheels.
A&T now has four games against ACC opponents in the next five years. It will travel to Winston-Salem to play Wake Forest in 2024, then head to Raleigh to take on NC State in 2027 before meeting UNC in Chapel Hill in 2028.