Due to the ongoing government shutdown, the UConn women’s basketball team likely will not open the 2025-26 season at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany as previously scheduled.
The Huskies were set to face Louisville on Nov. 4 at the U.S. Air Force base as part of ESPN’s Armed Forces Classic. But military bases are operating at drastically reduced capacity amid the shutdown, which began on Oct. 1 when Congress was unable to pass a bill funding federal government services before the end of the fiscal year. Cardinals coach Jeff Walz said Wednesday that he’s certain the game against UConn will still be played, but he expects it will be relocated.
“I feel pretty confident that we’re not going to Germany,” Walz said according to Card Chronicle. “I’m 100% confident that we’re going to play the game. It’s just a matter of where.”
The government shutdown is in its fourth week and is currently the second-longest shutdown in American history. The longest was in 2018-19 and lasted 35 days. If a deal is not reached by scheduled date of the Huskies’ season opener, the current shutdown would tie that record.
Huskies coach Geno Auriemma was vague about the outlook for the game during Big East Media Day on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
“Is this a Pentagon question or a White House question? Am I going to get arrested if I say the wrong answer?” Auriemma joked. “Has there been any kind of release on any of that yet? Somebody said there may be some kind of definitive answer today to that.”
It’s unclear whether the date and/or time of the game will change if it is relocated, or whether it will still be a part of the Armed Forces Classic. The classic was established by ESPN Events in 2012 as part of the network’s annual initiative around Veteran’s Day. UConn and Louisville would be the first women’s teams to play a game in the classic, which has been a men’s basketball event since it debuted.
The Armed Forces Classic has been played nine times, twice previously on the Ramstein Air Base in 2012 and 2017. The UConn men’s team played in the inaugural game in 2012, upsetting No. 14 Michigan State as an unranked squad in Kevin Ollie’s first season. Games have also been held over the last decade on various bases both domestic (California, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas) and international (Korea, Japan, Puerto Rico).
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