As debate continues about when and whether to expand the College Football Playoff, the Army-Navy game remains an important part of that discussion.
Specifically, the annual rivalry game between the two United States military academies is in the way. Contested the week after conference championship games since 2009, it almost certainly will have to move off that date to clear the runway for a larger playoff.
Related: How the Army-Navy game of 1944 stopped World War II
Army coach Jeff Monken had an interesting suggestion this week: Move one of the biggest traditional games on the college football calendar to Thanksgiving weekend.
“There’s not an appetite for the college football season to go all the way to the end of January,” Monken told The Athletic. “There’s a real hope that we can get this thing into one semester and have the championship game around Jan. 1, which would be awesome.”
A Game Unlike Any Other
With apologies to Ohio State-Michigan and Auburn-Alabama, there is no college football game quite like Army and Navy.
Playing for their school (and country) actually matters to the Black Knights and Midshipmen. Call us old school, but tuning into a college game and not being inundated with talk of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL); the transfer portal; and the players’ NFL Draft prospects is actually refreshing.
No, sir, these young men are the embodiment of student-athletes and so much more. Then you throw in the prisoner exchange, the student bodies’ pregame march onto the field, and both teams’ singing the other’s alma mater postgame, and we’re hooked.
And we haven’t even discussed how competitive the series has been. Scratch that. Now we are: First played in 1890 (Benjamin Harrison was president then, for you history buffs), the Midshipmen lead the all-time series 64-55. Seven games have ended in a tie.
And in four of the past five meetings, a touchdown or less has been the margin of victory. That includes December 13, 2025, when Navy eked out a 17-16 victory in Baltimore.
Preserving the Exclusive Window
While the College Football Playoff will remain at 12 teams for the upcoming season, it could expand to 14, 16, or (please, no) 24 teams for the 2027 regular season. That would imperil the exclusive window that the Army-Navy game typically has enjoyed.
No other annual game in the sport has such exclusivity, so it is worth preserving.
“Give us a four-hour block on Thanksgiving, or on Friday of Thanksgiving, or on Saturday of Thanksgiving, and give us a four-hour block,” Monken said, making his case. “Just say nobody else plays during this four-hour block. That’s still protecting the game.”
One of Monken’s key points suppoorting his suggestion was to allow Army and Navy a clearer path into the CFP. Although both academies are members of the American Conference, the rivalry game does not count in the conference standings. The American Conference title game is played the first week of December, a week before the Army-Navy clash and a day or two before the CFP field is determined.
“Without a pathway to the playoffs, you’re irrelevant,” Monken said.
Navy AD Calls Suggested Move ‘Detrimental’
Monken’s Thanksgiving idea has some merit.
Also, there are issues. Other big college football games are normally played over Thanksgiving weekend, so there would need to be buy-in from those schools (or the conferences in which they play). There’s also the three-letter elephant in the room that drives the fall sports calendar: N-F-L. It plays three games on Thanksgiving and, since 2023, one on Black Friday. Something tells us the NFL isn’t going to give up those dates.
And, perhaps most importantly, what does Navy think of Monken’s proposal? For that, here’s the Midshipmen’s athletic director, Michael Kelly.
“I’m always open-minded to different options, but I’m not supportive of the Thanksgiving suggestion,” Kelly said, according to the Capital-Gazette, a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. “That would be really detrimental to our revenue potential in terms of viewership and sponsorship.
“There is a reason why large-scale, neutral site college football games aren’t held around Thanksgiving. There are other better options that can be discussed moving forward.”
Any More Suggestions?
While the 2026 Army-Navy football game should still be played on December 12 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the dates of matchups beyond this year is somewhat unclear.
Everyone seemingly has an opinion, including President Donald Trump. The commander in chief has threatened to issue an executive order to preserve the Army-Navy game’s exclusive window.
“The Army-Navy Game is one of our Greatest American Traditions—Unmatched Patriotism, Courage, and Honor!” Trump began a post on Truth Social in January.
That tradition now faces plenty of uncertainty.
