in effect
Executive Order 14396, signed March 20, 2026, directs federal agencies to work toward preventing other college football games from being broadcast at the same time as the annual Army-Navy Game, traditionally held on the second Saturday in December. It establishes as federal policy that the Army-Navy Game should have an exclusive broadcast window free from competing college football programming.
The Secretary of Commerce and the FCC Chairman are directed to coordinate with the College Football Playoff (CFP) Committee, the NCAA, related organizations, and broadcast/media rights partners to establish a protected time slot for the Army-Navy Game. The FCC Chairman is separately directed to consider whether broadcast licensees’ existing public interest obligations could require them to treat the Army-Navy Game as a national service event. The order does not set a specific deadline for these actions, create any legally enforceable rights for any party, or mandate specific outcomes — it instructs agencies to pursue these goals through coordination and review.
The CFP Committee, the NCAA, and broadcast networks or streaming platforms holding college football postseason rights would be the primary parties engaged in the coordination process the order initiates. The FCC, as a federal regulatory body, is asked to examine whether its existing rules over broadcast licensees could be applied to protect the Army-Navy Game’s airtime. Military service academies (Army and Navy) and their athletic programs stand to benefit if the coordination succeeds in reducing scheduling conflicts.