No. 1 UConn and No. 20 Louisville will open their season at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., rather than an Air Force base in Germany as a ripple effect of the U.S. government shutdown.
The high-profile women’s basketball programs were set to participate in the Peraton Armed Forces Classic on Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, on Nov. 4. It will be the first edition of the Armed Forces Classic to feature women’s teams.
Due to the shutdown, which began Oct. 1 after Congress missed the deadline to pass a bill to fund the government, many federal employees are not at work. CT Insider reported that military officials at Ramstein stopped communicating about the game with ESPN, which organizes the Armed Forces Classic, on Oct. 6.
“For more than a decade, this event has celebrated the lives and contributions of our military, and we’re appreciative of the Naval Academy for helping provide a first-class venue for this first-ever women’s college basketball matchup that will showcase perennial powers Louisville and UConn,” ESPN Events vice president Clint Overby said in a statement.
The game will remain in its time slot of 5:30 p.m. ET on Nov. 4.
The Huskies are the defending national champions and will begin the post-Paige Bueckers era with the matchup against the Cardinals, a Final Four program as recently as 2022.
–Field Level Media
