President Donald Trump issues executive order establishing exclusive window for Army-Navy game amid potential CFP expansion
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We’re in the heat of college basketball season, but the college football calendar never rests. On Friday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to “establish an exclusive window for the Army-Navy Game, during which no other college football game is broadcast.”
“For over a century, the Army-Navy Game, known as ‘America’s Game,’ has stood as a symbol of excellence and the American spirit,” Trump wrote. “Now, 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 — a date traditionally reserved exclusively for ‘America’s Game.'”
“Such scheduling conflicts weaken the national focus on our Military Service Academies and detract from a morale-building event of vital interest to the Department of War,” Trump continued. “Accordingly, 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.”
The CFP expanded from 4 teams to 12 back in 2024. Before the first 12-team CFP concluded, discussions about further expansion had already begun. Now, before we’ll ever see a bracket featuring more than 12 teams, conference commissioners will have to figure out how it’d look with Army-Navy locked into its slot.
