WASHINGTON -- Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Charles Schumer, who spent the past year in bitter partisan disputes, sealed their first big compromise this week with a promise to have some fun together.

Where? Syracuse, of course.

Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate Democratic leader, invited McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, to join him at the Carrier Dome next year for a basketball game between the Syracuse Orange and Louisville Cardinals, a Schumer aide confirmed Thursday.

Both men are avid fans of their home state teams and have decorated their respective offices with Syracuse University and Louisville basketball memorabilia.

Relations had been strained between Schumer and McConnell, and reached a low Jan. 19 when the two failed to come up with a budget deal to prevent a government shutdown.

But after the shutdown, the Senate leaders began meeting privately to negotiate a compromise that would avoid a second shutdown at midnight Thursday.

This time, Schumer and McConnell came up with a bipartisan deal for a two-year budget that boosts spending on the military and domestic programs.

The two sealed the deal Tuesday in McConnell's office and ended with Schumer's invite to the Syracuse-Louisville game, The New York Times first reported.

The night before the deal, the Orange defeated the Cardinals 78-73 at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville -- the only scheduled meeting between the two ACC teams this year.

Schumer had agreed earlier in the week to speak Feb. 12 at the University of Louisville's McConnell Center. The center is named after McConnell, a 1964 graduate of the school.

Schumer, in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, touted the budget deal he and McConnell were able to accomplish as chief negotiators.

"Notably, President Trump stayed out of it, and I think that worked to the benefit of getting the deal," Schumer said.

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