President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order aimed at protecting the Army-Navy football game from being overshadowed by the expanding college football postseason, declaring that no College Football Playoff or other postseason game should be broadcast in conflict with the annual rivalry.
In the order, titled "Preserving America's Game," Trump said the Army-Navy matchup "has stood as a symbol of excellence and the American spirit" for more than a century and warned that "the recent and potentially ongoing expansion of the College Football Playoffs (CFP) and other postseason college football games threatens to encroach upon the second Saturday in December," which he described as a date "traditionally reserved exclusively for 'America's Game.'"
The order states that "it is the policy of the United States that no college football game, specifically college football's CFP or other postseason games, be broadcast in a manner that directly conflicts with the Army-Navy Game," and directs the Commerce secretary and the chair of the Federal Communications Commission to work with the CFP, the NCAA, broadcast partners, and other parties to establish an exclusive broadcast window.
Trump also instructed the FCC chair to consider whether the "public interest obligations of broadcast licensees" require the Army-Navy game to remain what the order calls "a national service event," language that could intensify debate over how far the federal government can push broadcasters on sports scheduling. The FCC has long said broadcast licensees operate under a public-interest standard because they use the public airwaves.
The move comes as the CFP has spent months weighing its future format, though its management committee announced in January that the playoff will remain a 12-team field for the 2026-27 season while officials continue evaluating possible changes beyond that.
Even with the current format staying in place for 2026, the White House framed the issue as immediate, saying overlapping broadcasts would weaken national attention on the service academies and detract from what the order called "a morale-building event of vital interest."
The Army-Navy game has been played annually since 1890 and has traditionally occupied a standalone window late in the college football calendar. The 127th meeting is scheduled for Dec. 12, 2026, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The game remains one of college football's strongest television draws. The official Army-Navy site said the 2025 game averaged 7.84 million viewers, giving CBS its largest audience of the season and marking the third straight year the rivalry has topped 7 million viewers.
Trump's order does not rewrite the CFP schedule or existing media contracts, but it places the administration in the middle of a college sports issue that had largely been left to conference commissioners, television executives, and playoff administrators.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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