WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Notre Dame women’s basketball traveled to the nation’s capital for the weekend to take part in the annual Citi Shamrock Classic. This year’s neutral site showcase, held in conjunction with Notre Dame Global Partnerships, was staged at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in D.C., where the Irish battled Illinois. That comes after Notre Dame played Cal last year in the inaugural event in St. Louis’ Enterprise Center. Notre Dame’s 79-68 victory was the opening act for a full afternoon of Fighting Irish athletics being broadcast on NBC, as the Wake Forest-Notre Dame football game followed the hoops matchup.
Notre Dame Global Partnerships GM Sean Wallis credited Citi’s involvement in putting the event on network TV for a second-straight year, adding it “took a total of one conversation” with NBC to have them onboard for another year. Last year’s event marked the first time NBC had ever broadcast a collegiate women’s basketball game on its flagship channel. But Wallis said the neutral-site game is about more than basketball, as the goal was to replicate the football programs Shamrock Series event.
Citi Interim-CMO Tina Davis said Citi has made a “conscious decision” to use their sponsorship of the event as a “platform to build gender equity” in the athletics sphere. Davis noted Notre Dame is the financial institution’s first women’s collegiate sponsorship, adding the “more visible” Citi and others can make women’s athletics, the “more likely other institutions, professional leagues and television networks” will follow suit in creating more equality in sports.
The two teams were treated to a leadership luncheon on Friday at Nationals Park, where Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey and Illinois coach Shauna Green spoke to a packed room. The coaches were also joined by Monumental Sports & Entertainment Vice Chair (and Illinois alum) Shelia Johnson, Citi Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and Global Head of Talent Erika Irish Brown, Nationals CMO Kimberly Bolt and Atlantic 10 Associate Commissioner for Women’s Basketball Candy Cage. After lunch both teams visited the National Mall, before touring the National Museum of African American History and Culture with D.C. youth groups, as part of a community service initiative presented by Gatorade.
Notre Dame women’s basketball faced Illinois at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in D.C.Fighting Irish Media
