The Nebraska–Tennessee football home-and-home football series scheduled for 2026 and 2027 will not be played after Nebraska opted out of the agreement.

Tennessee athletic director Danny White posted on X that Nebraska called off the series and added that Tennessee is “very disappointed” by the cancellation, especially so close to the initial game in 2026. The teams had been set to play in 2026 at Nebraska and at Tennessee the following year.

In a statement, Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen explained renovations to the team’s stadium, which will temporarily lower seating capacity, ultimately led to the decision.

“We are making plans to embark on major renovations of Memorial Stadium that may impact our seating capacity for the 2027 season,” Dannen said. “The best scenario for us is to have eight home games in 2027 to offset any potential revenue loss from a reduced capacity. The additional home games will also have a tremendous economic benefit on the Lincoln community.”

The Cornhuskers announced they will host Bowling Green in 2026 and Miami (Ohio) in 2027 on the dates when it was originally set to play Tennessee. Nebraska has never faced either school. The team will play eight homes in 2027 for the first time since 2013.

The cancellation ends a nearly two-decade process around a Nebraska-Tennessee series, which was originally agreed upon in 2006 and set for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In 2013, the two schools agreed to delay the games for a decade. Nebraska will pay $500,000 to get out of the scheduling agreement.

White told Volquest that the “buyout implications need to be much steeper” with an “old contract,” and the cancellation puts Tennessee in a bind. Tennessee, which opens the 2025 season against Syracuse in Atlanta, had its nonleague schedule set through the 2030 season. The school either must find an opponent who can fill the 2026 and 2027 dates for a home-and-home series, or explore neutral-site options.

“You really can’t pull an audible this late in the game,” White told Volquest.

Nebraska’s stadium renovation, the first phase of which had been set to begin after the 2024 season, has been delayed until after the 2025 season, at the earliest.

Tennessee and Nebraska have played only three times before, most recently in the 2016 Music City Bowl, won by the Vols. Nebraska beat Tennessee in the 1998 Orange Bowl to secure a share of the national title that season.

Tennessee has been on the other side of a similar situation. The Vols in 2021 canceled a game against Army for the next season in 2022 and added Akron instead.

Information from ESPN’s Chris Low was used in this report.

TAMPA, Fla. — The New York Yankees‘ facial hair and grooming policy, an infamous edict in place for nearly 50 years, was formally amended for the first time Friday.

In a statement, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said the organization will allow “well-groomed beards” effective immediately, changing a rule his father, George, established in 1976.

“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees — spanning several eras — to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Hal Steinbrenner said in the statement. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years.

“Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”

George Steinbrenner implemented the mandate before the 1976 season, leaving players with a choice of being clean-shaven or wearing a mustache. Hal Steinbrenner kept the policy in place after becoming chairman and controlling owner of the franchise in 2008.

Players overwhelmingly obliged with the order over the next five decades, from spring training through October, often before letting themselves go during the offseason, though a few have pushed the limits.

In the 1990s, for example, star first baseman Don Mattingly was fined and benched by manager Stump Merril for refusing to trim his mullet. Four years later, Mattingly wore a goatee for part of his final season in 1995.

This year, All-Star closer Devin Williams, acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in December, reported for his spring training physical with a beard before shaving it down to a mustache for the team’s first workout the next day. On the other end, former Yankees Gleyber Torres and Clay Holmes reported to camp with their new teams sporting full beards.

In another sign of college football’s transformation, Texas and USC have joined Nebraska in canceling their spring games.

“No, we’re not going to have a spring game,” Texas coach Sarkisian told Kay Adams on the “Up & Adams Show” podcast Thursday. “College football is changing right now, and we need to do a great job as coaches of adapting.”

Sarkisian said in the past two years, Texas has played 30 games and had 25 players invited to the NFL combine. He said the wear and tear and the turnover, with 21 midyear recruits arriving recently, meant it was time to think differently.

“Normally you play your last game, and you have a bowl game 30 days off,” Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte told ESPN. “We went last game at [Texas] A&M, then SEC championship game, home game, quarterfinal and semifinal. The reality is we played four extra games. In my mind, it was, ‘Hey guys, we gotta reimagine what the spring looks like.'”

Sarkisian said he hoped to have an NFL-style spring featuring OTAs — or organized team activities, as the pros call them — with scrimmages.

“The development that’s needed for these guys to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be,” Sarkisian said. “I just don’t know if rolling the ball out and playing the game, when we only get 15 practices, is the best for us to maximize the opportunities that we get.”

A USC source said there’s not much upside to spring games with risk of injury and more important uses for financial resources.

“The biggest purpose that a spring game actually serves now is a fan engagement tool, and we just think we can engage fans in a better way,” the source said.

Those were all different reasons from the ones Nebraska cited, with coach Matt Rhule saying his biggest concern was effectively playing a showcase game for other schools to recruit his roster. The NCAA’s spring transfer portal window runs from April 16-25, after most spring games traditionally have been played

“I hate to say it like this, but it’s really because last year, we were one of the more televised spring games, and I dealt with a lot of people offering our players a lot of opportunities after that,” Rhule said. “The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore, it’s just absolute free, open, common market. And so, I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world. I don’t want these guys all being able to watch our guys and say, ‘Wow, he looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.'”

Florida State canceled its spring game this year because of ongoing stadium renovations at Doak Campbell Stadium, but coach Mike Norvell said he believes the trend of no longer playing spring games will continue. “As much as anything, teams can change so much,” Norvell said. “I would assume that you’re going to see less and less spring games just because of that part of it. You go play a spring game and put whatever information you want out there, and that’s going to help somebody that you’re playing against. Even if it’s just seeing the look of personnel. You can only get 15 days, I don’t want to spend a day that’s not as productive.”

But Del Conte said this was not a permanent decision for Texas.

“I couldn’t say this is a new version, we’re just looking at everything that happened this year,” he said.

ESPN’s Andrea Adelson, Heather Dinich and Paolo Uggetti contributed to this report.