U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) and 57 congressional colleagues criticized executive directors of the College Football Playoff and bowl season committees for not preserving the annual Army-Navy football game's "time-honored tradition" of being the only major college football game on the second Saturday in December.
This year's Army-Navy game will be the first time since 2009 that other games have been scheduled on the same day—excluding 2020, which was modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Army-Navy football game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday on CBS. The matchup is wedged between the Jackson State-South Carolina State Cricket Celebration Bowl game in Atlanta at 11 a.m. on ABC and the South Alabama-Western Michigan Salute to Veterans Bowl game in Montgomery at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
Tuberville and other members of Congress said on Thursday in a letter to Rich Clark and Nick Carparelli, executive directors of the College Football Playoff and bowl season committees, "The game is always played in a sold out NFL venue and brings patriotism and pageantry to the fans in the stadium and to the people of the host city. To reflect the immeasurable esteem that this event has garnered for decades, it has been played for many years on a Saturday reserved specifically for the Army vs. Navy Game without any competing college football events."
"As you know, college commissioners voted unanimously to schedule the twelve-team College Football Playoff (CFP) around the Army vs. Navy Football Game. The decision demonstrated a significant degree of respect extended by the most prominent leaders in college football, which we strongly commend. Nevertheless, the expanded CFP will cause other bowl games—for the first time in recent history—to be played on the same day as the Army vs. Navy Game," the congressmen. "We write out of concern that the additional games detract from the focus on our Armed Forces that the nationally televised Army vs. Navy Game provided with a unique day set aside for it. Young Americans often cite the pregame events as igniting their interest in serving in uniform. The airtime of those pregame events are now in jeopardy with a preceding televised college football game. We feel there is no other block of time in television programming that rekindles our nation's patriotism, unity, and confidence in the military and promotes a greater sense of appreciation than this incredible game day production. On behalf of both Army and Navy, all those who are serving or have served our country and the citizens whom we represent, we respectfully request you set aside the second Saturday in December in future seasons solely for the Army vs. Navy Game to preserve this time-honored tradition."
Army Navy Game Letter1 by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
