Government shutdown moves UConn-Louisville season opener from Germany

One of the more highly anticipated women’s college basketball non-conference games of the upcoming 2025-26 season is changing venues due to the ongoing government shutdown.

The top-25 matchup between No. 1 UConn and No. 19 Louisville set for Nov. 4 will now be played at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, a person with direct knowledge of the plans for the game told the Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. 

ESPN Events later announced the new venue site on X (formerly Twitter). The game was originally set to be played at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

The government shutdown began on Oct. 1 and is now in its 23rd day. It is the second-longest shutdown in history, with the longest one being a 35-day shutdown that took place during the first Trump administration from Dec. 22, 2018 through Jan. 25, 2019.

‘Very encouraged and obviously looking forward to the opportunity,’ Louisville coach Jeff Walz said earlier in the day about the game, according to the Courier-Journal. ‘Discouraged that our elected officials couldn’t figure out a way to get our country back up and running. But nothing surprising these days.’

He added: ‘I feel bad for (director of operations Cortnee Walton). She had arranged some great things for us. Germany had done a ton of legwork to make sure this was going to be a great experience. Not only a really, really good basketball game but just a great experience overall. And that’s what we try to do when we go on trips. Even if it’s a one-day road game, you’re trying to make sure you let these players get the opportunity to experience the city you’re in, the campus you might be going to visit. And she put a lot of work into it. So, we will pivot.’

The Nov. 4 meeting between UConn and Louisville is the third leg of a four-year home-and-home series between both programs. The Huskies earned an 86-52 win over the Cardinals on Dec. 16, 2023, in Hartford, Connecticut, and an 85-52 win on Dec. 7, 2024, at the Barclays Center in New York, in the Women’s Champions Classic. Louisville is scheduled to host UConn at the KFC Yum! Center during the 2026-27 season.

Fresh off its 12th national title under Geno Auriemma, UConn was tabbed as the No. 1 team in the preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, which was released on Thursday. Louisville was tabbed as the No. 19-ranked team in the poll.

ESPN statement on UConn-Louisville moving due to government shutdown

Here’s a statement from ESPN Events vice present Clint Overby:

This story has been updated with new information.

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