Pitt-West Virgina Game Faces Potential Conflict

Kickoff time for the Pitt Panthers' game against West Virginia is contingent on what the Pirates do.

PITTSBURGH -- Anticipation is already building for the 107th Backyard Brawl between the Pitt Panthers and West Virginia Mountaineers scheduled for this September at Acrisure Stadium but a loaded day on Pittsburgh's North Shore could create a conflict. 

The Panthers and Mountaineers are scheduled to play in Pittsburgh at Acrisure Stadium on September 14, the same day the Pirates are set to host the Kansas City Royals at PNC Park at 6:40 p.m. With both venues using the same parking lots for events and tens of thousands of fans set to flood the North Shore that day, both events will be staggered but in what order is yet to be determined. 

Pitt will likely not set a kickoff time for the Backyard Brawl until later in the year, when it has deliberated with its broadcast partners and the Pirates. 

The 2022 Backyard Brawl set a Pittsburgh sporting event attendance record with 70,622 fans packing Acrisure Stadium for the first game between the two rivals in more than a decade. Pitt and Penn State's 2016 matchup set the previous city record with 69,983 fans in attendance.  

In 2016, Pitt played the renewal of its rivalry against Penn State at noon in Week 2 because the Pirates played at 7:00 p.m. that night just down the road at PNC Park. 

Two years later, when the Nittany Lions returned to then-Heinz Field, it was the Pirates who adjusted, flexing a 7:00 p.m. first pitch to 1:00 p.m. ‘to allow the University of Pittsburgh to schedule its gridiron clash with Penn State University at night."

The first two games of this current eight-game series between West Virginia and Pitt were played under the lights at Acrisure Stadium in 2022 and at Milan Puskar Stadium in 2023. 

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