President Donald Trump on Saturday night said he would order television networks to block other college football games from airing at the same time as the annual Army-Navy football game, a move sought by the event’s supporters that also raised immediate legal questions.
“Under my Administration, the second Saturday in December belongs to Army-Navy, and ONLY Army-Navy!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I will soon sign a Historic Executive Order securing an EXCLUSIVE 4 hour Broadcast window, so this National Event stands above Commercial Postseason Games. No other Game or Team can violate this Time Slot!!!”
The rivalry game between the two military service academies has traditionally aired on Saturday afternoons in December, with no competition from other college football games. The game has also been a ratings boon for CBS, which has broadcast the showdown since 1996. But the game’s closely guarded TV window is facing pressure as college sports leaders mull expanding the College Football Playoff, with some proposals calling to shift the Army-Navy game to a different day or to broadcast other college football games at the same time.
Dozens of lawmakers have urged college football leaders to protect the Army-Navy game’s TV window, saying it helps with national unity and military recruitment. Trump, who has regularly attended the Army-Navy game since he was first elected president in 2016, framed his planned order as a patriotic act.
“We must protect the Tradition, and the Players, who protect us. Please let this serve as Notice to ALL Television Networks, Stations, and Outlets,” Trump wrote.
Several telecommunications lawyers and media-law experts told The Washington Post on Saturday night that Trump’s planned order was likely illegal, citing the First Amendment and other regulations.
“With a stroke of a pen, the President will assert a power that any television programmer in history would have killed for,” Jeffrey Cole, the director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication’s Center for the Digital Future, wrote in an email. “While the goal may be commendable (at least for Army-Navy) and the President has as much right to persuade or coerce as any fan, he has no legal power of enforcement.”
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about why Trump issued the order and its legality.
The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates TV broadcasts, also did not immediately respond to questions about the planned order. However, Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the FCC, reposted Trump’s message on his own social media page.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) January 18, 2026
Paramount Skydance, which owns CBS, did not immediately respond to questions about whether the company sought Trump’s planned order.
Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) led a congressional letter in December 2024 urging college football leaders to “set aside the second Saturday in December in future seasons solely for the Army vs. Navy Game,” arguing that an exclusive TV window was important for national patriotism and confidence in the military.
“The Army-Navy game highlights and celebrates — more than any college football game in America — true student-athlete-patriots,” Sullivan posted on social media last month. “It’s important to preserve this as the profit-focused NCAA looks to encroach on this special game and day.”
Sullivan, a retired Marine who chairs the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Naval Academy, joined Trump at the White House on Friday morning for a rural-health event. Sullivan’s office did not immediately respond to questions about whether Sullivan and Trump spoke about the Army-Navy game.
White House historians said they could not recall a past presidential order on a football game’s TV rights, and some questioned Trump’s priorities.
“Troops on the street in Minneapolis, a Venezuelan president in custody, tensions rising with Iran — and an executive order to secure a time slot for football,” Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University history professor, wrote in a text message. “This is not what other presidents have been focused on or, even more, used their authority for.”
Others pointed to past presidents’ history with the sport. Tevi Troy, a White House historian, listed examples such as Theodore Roosevelt encouraging college football teams in 1905 to adopt helmets and new safety rules — a move widely hailed for protecting players and helping save the sport — as well as stumbles such as Richard M. Nixon’s failed efforts to call plays for football teams.
“Americans love football but presidents have sometimes stepped in it by getting involved,” added Troy, who served in the George W. Bush White House as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy.
Trump’s planned order on the Army-Navy game is emblematic of his second term, where the president has invoked his authority to prioritize pet issues, such as increasing the water flow in showers and overhauling the White House grounds.
He has also relied on executive orders at a faster pace than his immediate predecessors, issuing more orders in 2025 than in his entire first term. About one-third of those orders had been explicitly challenged in court as of Dec. 12, a Post analysis of data from nonprofits CourtListener and Just Security found.
White House officials have previously described Trump as a sports fan who happens to hold the world’s most powerful office.
He weighed in on an NFL coaching search last week, urging the New York Giants to hire John Harbaugh after he was fired by the Baltimore Ravens. (The Giants hired Harbaugh, a move that was widely expected before Trump got involved.) Trump has also taken the presidential limousine on a lap around the Daytona 500 racetrack, arranged a UFC cage-match outside the White House — an event slated to fall on his birthday this year — and is moving to take control of several public golf courses in Washington.
Trump is also set to attend the College Football Playoff championship in Florida on Monday night.
Scott Nover and Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.
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