CBS Sports Agrees to 10-Year Contract Extension for Army-Navy Football Game

CBS Sports has reached an agreement to extend its broadcast rights to one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports, the annual Army-Navy football game, through the 2018 season.
As part of the new agreement, beginning in 2009, the game will be moved a week later and played on the second Saturday in December to conclude college football’s regular season.
“We celebrate today a proud moment for the Academies and CBS Sports,” says Mike Aresco, EVP programming for CBS Sports. “The Army-Navy game is a national treasure, and moving the game to the second Saturday in December will, over the next decade, permit the entire nation once again to embrace this great rivalry and its poignant traditions. There is no more fitting way to conclude the college-football regular season.”
Says Chet Gladchuk, director of athletics at the
United States Naval Academy, “We appreciate the incredible enthusiasm the CBS family continues to display toward our nation’s number-one college-football rivalry. Knowing that a worldwide audience will now enjoy this event on a day exclusively dedicated to Army and Navy makes this game the focal point for all of college football.”
Kevin Anderson, director of athletics at the
United States Military Academy, says, “We could not be more pleased to announce that America’s Game will be broadcast to a worldwide audience by CBS Sports for the next decade. CBS has proven to be an excellent partner for the Academies over the years and continues to share in our reverence for this time-honored rivalry. We feel very fortunate that this great American tradition will continue to be delivered to servicemen around the globe with the care and respect that the leadership at CBS Sports provides.”
The game also will be streamed live and free of charge on CBSSports.com, reaching the servicemen and -women around the world.
The 109th meeting of the Army-Navy football classic will air live this year on Saturday Dec. 6 at noon ET, from Lincoln Financial Field in
Philadelphia.
Each year during the new deal, CBS Sports will present a special edition of its pregame show, College Football Today, dedicated to the game and will feature the traditional parade of the Brigade of Midshipmen and the Corps of Cadets onto the field.
The Army-Navy game will be played on the second Saturday in December each year.