Louisville to Participate in Inaugural 2024 Women’s Champion Classic

UConn, Iowa and Tennessee will join the Cardinals at the Barclays Center this December.

Press Release from the University of Louisville:

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The University of Louisville women's basketball team will be heading to the Big Apple in December next season to take part in the Inaugural Women's Champion Classic. The Cardinals will be joined by UConn, Iowa and Tennessee in a national televised double header at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The event will be broadcast on FOX and held on December 7 with the set matchups to be announced at a later date.

"We are very excited and honored to take part in the inaugural Women's Champion Classic next season," said head coach Jeff Walz. "It will be a great showcase for our sport to have some of the best programs in college basketball compete on a national stage. Our team is looking forward to the opportunity the event will provide us next season."

"Interest in women's sports continues to experience exponential growth and basketball is leading the way with viewership and attendance records continually being set," said David Levy, Co-CEO of HS&E. "This moment feels like the right time to launch the Women's Champions Classic, set in the mecca of basketball, and we are proud to have these four storied programs participate in our inaugural event. The Women's Champions Classic will serve as a platform to showcase the remarkable talent and unwavering dedication of these teams and student-athletes in primetime on FOX, captivating audiences far and wide. Together with our partners at FOX, we look forward to igniting excitement and celebration around women's basketball while honoring the exceptional student-athletes who make it shine."

"The Women's Champions Classic is the next step in FOX Sports' longstanding commitment to elevating women's athletics, and we are eager to showcase these student-athletes at the highest level – in primetime on the FOX broadcast network," said Jordan Bazant, Executive Vice President, FOX Sports. "Alongside our partners at HS&E, the exceptional participating schools and their conferences, we could not be more excited to bring the Women's Champions Classic to college hoops fans around the nation."

All three of the potential opponents for the Cardinals they will be very familiar with as they have played each of them in the past few years. The Cardinals squared off with UConn in Hartford earlier this season in the first of a four-game home-and-home series that began this season. Louisville and Iowa faced off this past March in the Elite Eight out in Seattle. It was the fifth-straight Elite Eight for the Cardinals, the only team in the country to have made each of the last five Elite Eights. The Cardinals last played Tennessee in the Sweet Sixteen in Wichita back in 2022 and the Cardinals came away with the win en route to their fourth Final Four appearance in program history.

(Graphic via University of Louisville Athletics)

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