The Villanova and Notre Dame men’s and women’s basketball teams are officially set for a one-of-a-kind season opener on an international stage. Pope included.
The Fighting Irish’s and Wildcats’ teams will play in the “Eternal City Tip-Off” in Rome on Nov. 1 to start the 2026-27 season.
The doubleheader will make history in a couple of categories: the first men’s international season opener and the first Division I basketball game played in Italy. While next season officially begins on Nov. 2, the NCAA approved this special men’s and women’s event starting in Rome a day early.
So why, specifically, are these two Catholic universities playing halfway across the world?
Simply, Pope Leo XIV (whose real name is Robert Francis Provost). And, he plans to have an audience with the teams during their trip.
Pope Leo XIV delivers his ‘Urbi et Orbi’ message from St. Peter’s Basilica on April 05, 2026 in Vatican City. (Photo by Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
The Pope — an American-born sports fan who resides in Vatican City in the heart of Rome — is an alumnus of Villanova in the class of 1977. What’s more, his roots are in Chicago, which is relatively close to Notre Dame’s campus in South Bend, Indiana.
His recent election inspired the Eternal City Tip-Off.
[MEN’S NCAA BASKETBALL: Illinois, Duke Highlight Way-Too-Early Top 25]
The Villanova males’s program has seven Last 4 appearances and three nationwide titles, with its most up-to-date in 2018.
Led by coach Niele Ivey, the Notre Dame ladies even have three nationwide titles. The Preventing Irish clinched an Elite Eight look this season however finally fell to No. 1 seed UConn.
The Everlasting Metropolis Tip-Off would be the second time in 4 seasons the Notre Dame ladies’s group has competed overseas. In 2023, The Preventing Irish performed South Carolina in Paris.
The boys’s groups will meet for the primary time since 2016, and their recreation will air on FOX and lead into the community’s NFL protection. The ladies’s group will play for the primary time since 2018 with that matchup being broadcast on FS1.
