Recent documents show Virginia Tech called off negotiations with East Carolina and backed out of multiple road games to Greenville after both sides were attempting to rectify the future of the series stemming from the fallout of this past September's cancelled game.

Athletic officials and legal counsel from both ECU and Virginia Tech met over two conference calls over the last week to discuss the ramifications of the Pirates’ decision to cancel its trip to Blacksburg in September, citing safety concerns for its student-athletes and coaches with Hurricane Florence heading towards Eastern North Carolina and the east coast.

One of the deadliest hurricanes in North Carolina history, Florence was responsible for the deaths of 55 people, including 41 in the state of North Carolina. New Bern, located around an hour away from ECU’s campus, suffered catastrophic flooding. The storm did nearly $17 billion in damage in North Carolina, more than previous hurricanes Matthew and Floyd combined.

Hokies’ athletic director Whit Babcock publicly stated in a rare Christmas weekend Saturday morning release before 9 a.m. that Virginia Tech would not be playing its scheduled 2019 game in Greenville, and has also opted out of games in 2023 and 2025 at ECU. Babcock said the Hokies would still welcome ECU to Lane Stadium in Blacksburg for scheduled games in 2020, 2022 and 2024.

Virginia Tech declared ECU was in breach of the non-conference football contract in a formal letter dated Nov. 28, 2018, for failing to pay VT $250,000 as a result of cancelling the game. Virginia Tech also suggested moving the scheduled 2019 game to Charlotte where the two sides would split the revenue, an offer ECU rejected, along with the $250,000 payment.

Through a public records request, Hoist The Colours obtained two emails of the final correspondence between both ECU and Virginia Tech about the series. Donna Gooden Payne, ECU’s University Counsel and Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs, wrote a formal letter to Virginia Tech Legal Counsel Kay Heidbreder on Dec. 19 in response to Virginia Tech’s request to move the game and threaten to cancel its trip to Greenville.

“VT’s position is illogical, dismissive of the long standing and positive relationship between our respective institutions and fans,” Payne wrote, “shows a wanton disregard of both institutions’ obligations under NCAA requirements to protect the health of, and provide a safe environment for participating student-athletes, hypocritical, and is clearly contrary to the plain meaning of the Contract.

“We believe your assertions that VT was economically damaged by not playing the September game to be exaggerated in light of the fact that VT filed a claim for compensation from its insurance carrier to cover losses.”

Heading into the 2018 season, ECU and Virginia Tech had met 10 of the previous 11 years. The series dates back to 1956. In 2007, after a tragic shooting on Virginia Tech’s campus, ECU donated $100,000, aiding relief efforts in a pre-game ceremony prior to a matchup between both schools.

It was in mid-September when ECU stepped forward and cancelled its road game at Virginia Tech on its own due to safety concerns with Hurricane Florence bearing down on the east coast. The two schools had been in discussions throughout the week in regards to whether or not the game should be played.

The Hokies’ athletic department wanted to wait until Wednesday, Sept. 12 to see the hurricane's updated track before making a final call on the game in Blacksburg. But ECU officials, having dealt with similar storms that have ravaged Eastern North Carolina in the past, opted to take the precautionary route and cancel the game on its own. The Pirate football team then traveled to Florida to avoid getting stuck in the path of the storm ahead of the following weekend's game at South Florida.

According to the Dec. 19 letter, Virginia Tech asserted it offered to find housing for ECU’s football team and staff were they to arrive earlier than originally planned, but “email records reflect that VT did not follow through and specifically failed to answer ECU’s request to discuss housing option information in an email sent at approximately 10:26 a.m. on Tuesday, September 11.”

ECU announced it was cancelling its trip officially to Blacksburg later that afternoon well after 3 p.m. At that point, several other games across college football had already been cancelled or moved out of state. North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina and Appalachian State all cancelled home games. Virginia moved its home game against Ohio to Nashville, Tenn.

On Sept. 12, the Governors of both Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergencies ahead of the storm arriving. Also on that date, Virginia Tech opted to postpone its women’s home soccer game against Virginia scheduled for Friday, Sept. 14, citing concerns about the oncoming storm. The football game was originally scheduled to be played the next day.

In its letter to Virginia Tech, ECU pointed out the $250,000 Virginia Tech was asking for from the Pirates as a result of the cancellation was an “erroneous reading” of Article 16 of the contract that states, “that a visiting team that fails to play a scheduled football game will forfeit the $250,000 minimum that it would have otherwise been entitled to from the home team had the game been played.”

East Carolina offered to up its payment to Virginia Tech from $250,000 to $300,000 for the 2019 contest in Greenville in order to cover the “additional alleged expense” from the eventual 2018 makeup game with Marshall.

On Oct. 2, it was announced ECU would play NC State on Dec. 1 as both teams’ 12th makeup game. Virginia Tech later scheduled a Dec. 1 matchup against Marshall. The Hokies’ contest with the Thundering Herd was announced on Nov. 18.

In its formal response letter to ECU on Dec. 21, Virginia Tech claimed the Pirates announced the NC State game the day before they were supposed to talk further with the Hokies’ athletic department about a potential Dec. 1 makeup game themselves.

East Carolina had originally made Virginia Tech its No. 1 priority when it came to a makeup game for Dec. 1 and discussed the opportunity with Hokies’ athletic department, but with VT eyeing an ACC Championship berth, their athletic department kept ECU waiting, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. NC State and South Carolina also emerged as potential road opponents, and the Wolfpack eventually agreed to the game with ECU.

ECU officials offered to hold a third conference call in early January to further iron out the issues on both sides and come to an agreement about the future of the series, but Virginia Tech declined.

“It is clear that the parties have reached an impasse,” Heidbreder wrote on behalf of Virginia Tech. “Further discussion will not change the minds of either Virginia Tech or ECU administrators. As a result of this reality, I have been asked to inform you that Virginia Tech is ending negotiations regarding the contract.”

Heidbreder later wrote in the same email that Virginia Tech would not be coming to Greenville for scheduled games in 2019, 2023 and 2025, but the Hokies would still welcome the Pirates to games in Blacksburg.

“If ECU is interested in playing the game scheduled for 2020 in Blacksburg, we would welcome you; however, we understand that you may not be interested in coming,” Heidbreder wrote. “Please let us know your plans for 2020 as Virginia Tech will need to make appropriate arrangements to secure an alternate opponent.”

It’s unclear at this time if ECU intends to pursue legal action against Virginia Tech for backing out of the road games in Greenville.

Virginia Tech leads the all-time series against ECU, 15-7.