The primary, fiercest athletic and historic rival for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats across collegiate sports is the Xavier University Musketeers, with whom they contest the legendary annual cross-town basketball showdown known as the Crosstown Shootout. In football, the Bearcats maintain intense historical and conference rivalries with regional programs, but the fierce, deep-seated athletic animosity shared with Xavier on the hardwood stands as the defining sports rivalry for the Cincinnati community.