Why UConn women's basketball opener vs. Louisville was moved from Germany to Maryland

No. 1 UConn's first game of the 2025-26 NCAA women's basketball season against No. 20 Louisville has been moved from Ramstein Air Base in Germany to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, due to effects of the government shutdown. The game will still be played on Tuesday, Nov. 4, with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m. ET. 

This was supposed to be the third time that the Armed Forces Classic would be played at Ramstein Air Base, and the first time that two women's teams would play there. ESPN, which will broadcast the game, made the decision to change locations. 

"We've made the decision to move the 2025 Peraton Armed Forces Classic to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md," vice president of ESPN events Clint Overby said. "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."

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The United States government has been shut down since Oct. 1 because the Senate has not passed a funding bill, and it's unclear when the shutdown will end. As long as it continues, overseas bases will continue to operate at reduced levels.

According to CT Insider, Ramstein Air Base stopped communicating with ESPN on Oct. 6. Even if the shutdown ends before Nov. 4 -- the longest government shutdown lasted 35 days in 2019 -- the network was out of time to properly coordinate and set up the event. 

"We're excited to have opportunity to play at the academy," Louisville coach Jeff Walz told The Associated Press on Thursday after the announcement. "It's going to be a great experience for our players. Everyone was excited about going to Germany and playing at Ramstein, but we will make the best of this. We were going to head over to Germany a few days earlier and have a scavenger hunt in a castle on Halloween."

The top-ranked Huskies won their 12th national championship last season, which extended their all-time record. Despite losing Paige Bueckers and Kaitlyn Chen to the WNBA, Geno Auriemma's group has hopes of repeating this season. No team has gone back-to-back since the Huskies themselves won four titles in a row from 2013-16. 

Walz's Cardinals, meanwhile, are hoping for a bounce-back campaign. While they reached the 20-win mark for the 15th consecutive season in 2025, their 22 victories were their fewest since 2011, and they were eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They'll have a chance to pull off a major upset on opening night.