Report: Notre Dame to open 2026-27 basketball season in Rome vs. Villanova

College basketball is already holy, but Notre Dame and Villanova are taking it to the next level.

According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, the Irish and Wildcats are finalizing a men’s and women’s basketball double-header for Sunday, Nov. 1 in Rome, Italy. The inspiration for the matchup, Norlander reported, is Pope Leo XVI’s ascension to the papacy.

The Pope is from Chicago, which is a two hours’ drive from Notre Dame, the world’s preeminent Catholic university. He graduated Villanova, also a Catholic school, in 1977 (under his given name, Robert Prevost). He’s a big fan of American sports — most famously the Chicago Bears and Chicago White Sox.

Norlander wrote that while the details are still being worked out, Fox is set to broadcast both game. The men’s game — which Norlander said is “believed to be the first season-opener on foreign soil and the first regular season Division I basketball competition in Italy” — will be Fox’s lead-in to that Sunday’s NFL action. The women’s game will air immediately following the men’s game on Fox Sports 1.

While the official start of the 2026-27 college basketball season is Monday, Nov. 2, Norlander reported that the NCAA has approved a waiver that allows Notre Dame and Villanova a “one-day head start.”

“Villanova and Notre Dame worked in concert on arranging the game for months, sources said, with talks seriously materializing in the early fall,” Norlander said. “Paperwork has not been finalized, but both schools are moving forward with the expectation that one of college basketball’s most ambitious scheduling ideas in recent memory will transpire on the first day of November.”

Both games will be played at the Palazzetto dello Sport, which according to Norlander is “known more colloquially as the PalaTiziano.” It’s located just under 6 kilometers from Vatican City.

Both Notre Dame men’s and women’s basketball will hope to kick-start bounce-back years in November after disappointing 2025-26 seasons. The women’s team, which carries expectations to compete for national championships every year, is a projected No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Soon-to-be senior point guard Hannah Hidalgo, if she returns to Notre Dame in the fall, will headline the matchup as potentially the reigning National Player of the Year. She averages 24.9 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and a staggering 6.5 steals per game as a junior, but a lackluster supporting cast has led to a 15-9 (7-6 ACC) record.

On the men’s side, head coach Micah Shrewsberry has yet to get his program off the ground. The Irish are headed for a third-straight losing season at 11-14 (2-10 ACC), largely due to junior point guard Markus Burton’s ankle injury.