{"id":1611,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1611","headline":"Villanova and Notre Dame open season in Rome, with an eye on the Pope","dek":"Both schools' men's and women's teams tip off their 2026 campaigns a day early, on Nov. 1 in Rome, with questions swirling over whether Villanova alum Pope Leo will show up.","body":"College basketball's season usually starts on a Monday, but Villanova and Notre Dame are getting a jump on everyone else. Their men's and women's teams will open the new campaign a day earlier, on Nov. 1, in Rome, Italy, for the Eternal City Tip-Off.\n\nThe location is not an accident. Villanova's most famous living alum these days is Pope Leo, elected in May 2025 as the first American Pope. He has already made his sports fandom known stateside, including a dedicated \"Pope Seat\" at the Chicago White Sox's Rate Field and a Pope Hat Night at the ballpark this past season. Now the question is whether he will show up for his alma mater's game in his adopted hometown.\n\nAccording to reporting on the matchup's origins, the Rome game started as an informal pitch from a Fox Sports executive and has since turned into a real event on the sport's calendar. SportsLine's Eric Cohen has already released predictions and picks for the matchup ahead of the Nov. 1 opener. Whether the Pope actually attends remains the open question as tip-off approaches.","published_at":"2026-10-31T22:18:02.771782+00:00","source_count":4,"written_from":[{"outlet":"CBS Sports","publisher":"CBS Sports","title":"Villanova vs. Notre Dame odds, prediction, time: 2026 Rome college basketball opener picks by proven expert","url":"https://www.cbssports.com/betting/news/villanova-notre-dame-odds-prediction-date-time-2026-rome-college-basketball-opener-picks/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Will Villanova alum Pope Leo attend game vs Notre Dame in Rome?","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/villanova-alum-pope-leo-attend-030831868.html"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Why are Villanova and Notre Dame opening the college basketball season in Rome?","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7735735/2026/10/30/villanova-notre-dame-rome-basketball-game-pope-leo/"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Villanova’s Rome Opener Could Make History","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/villanova-rome-opener-could-history-063743805.html"},{"outlet":"Fox Sports","publisher":"Fox Sports","title":"Villanova, Notre Dame Men's College Basketball: All-Time Starting 5","url":"https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mens-college-basketball/villanova-notre-dame-mens-college-basketball-all-time-starting-5"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"How to watch Notre Dame vs Villanova, the women’s college basketball season opener","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/watch-notre-dame-vs-villanova-184118446.html"}],"image":null,"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}