Ad Disclosure
Non-Philly School Villanova Will Play Two Big East Games at Xfinity Mobile Arena
By Matt Schultz
Published:
The Big East released its conference schedule for 2026-2027, and it looks like Villanova will be playing Saint John’s and UConn at Xfinity Mobile Area:
If I can be honest in this blog here, it’s always bothered me a little that Villanova plays their big games at whatever we’re calling the basketball arena in the sports complex in a given year. And it’s not because I’m not one of these “Villanova isn’t a Philly school” guys (even though they are not). I don’t really care whether the school is physically in Philadelphia. Think that’s a dumb thing to care about. My own Saint Joe’s is half in the city and half out. I was an English major and spent a bunch of my time on the Merion side of campus and it was great. Who cares. It doesn’t matter. Baby thing to care about. Plus, as we’ve already established on this website, Villanova may not be a Philly school, but its basketball team is a Philly program. I think that’s the correct way to look at it.
No, what bothers me about the Wildcats playing at Xfinity Movile Arena is that Villanova doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about Big 5 basketball or Philly hoops tradition, but then will turn around and play their games in Philadelphia’s premier basketball venue. Just think that’s a bad look for Villanova. Something about it is lame. They’ll have Saint John’s and UConn come to town and the game will be nationally televised and the floor of Xfinity Mobile Arena will be decked out in Nova colors and their National Championship banners will be hanging from the rafters and the broadcast will be gushing about how Nova is the cream of the crop of Philadelphia hoops.
Meanwhile, the reality is that no Philly school has done more to undermine Philly’s basketball culture than Villanova. They already blew up the Big 5 once, and it sounds like Kevin Willard is brainstorming ways to do it again.
Not to say I don’t get where Nova is coming from. I do. I understand that they have more earning potential than the rest of the Big 5 schools. I get that they’re a national program and they have NIL contracts to pay out now and they have to bring in as much revenue as possible, and if they can make more money selling more seats in Xfinity than they can at the Pavillion, then they should do that.
I also get why, historically, Villanova is less crazy about Big 5 games than the rest of the Big 5 schools. Needing to schedule a game against a lowly, irrelevant, D3-level school like La Salle* every year (I didn’t expect to be typing a dig at La Salle in here when I started this blog but this one came very organically, this is the beauty of writing blogs, never know where you’re gonna end up) isn’t ideal when you’re a perennial Final Four contender who needs to beef up your non-conference resume for the committee.
Again, I get it. But it still rubs me the wrong way. Villanova may be the most successful Philadelphia basketball program, but from where I’m sitting, they can be a pretty shitty ambassador for Philadelphia basketball (Jay Wright was the exception, he cared about Big 5 hoops, he doesn’t count; I’m looking at Rollie Massimino and possibly Kevin Willard, only time will tell with Kev). Just seems weird that this is the team taking center stage in the city’s main/huge/most famous stadium all the time.
In conclusion, Xfinity Mobile Arena should only let honorable Philadelphia basketball institutions play there. Like Saint Joe’s, for example. Saint Joe’s vs. Coppin State on ESPN. This is good. This game will sell 20,000 tickets. This is what the people want.
*Kinkead: I’ll be visiting La Salle on Thursday and speaking with head coach Darris Nichols. Schultz is talking out his ass.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com