Navy News, news from Iraq - Navy Times

Army-Navy game could move, get sponsor

The tradition-rich Army-Navy football game could be coming to a city near you, and it might have a different name when it gets there.

Naval Academy athletic director Chet Gladchuk told the academy’s Board of Visitors on July 8 that a bidding process among cities for future Army-Navy games would begin within weeks. He also said the academy is open to corporate sponsorship of the game.

The game has been played in Philadelphia for most of its 118-year history, but has occasionally been played in Annapolis, Md., at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and at cities in between the two campuses. In 1983, it was played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

The bidding process announced by Gladchuck could mean Army-Navy games could be played in any part of the country.

“I have no doubt there will 15, 16, 17 cities that will put their oar in the water and actually bid for the game,” Gladchuck said. “It could be San Diego, it could be Seattle, it could be the Meadowlands [in East Rutherford, N.J.]. Baltimore has shown interest; it could be Philadelphia or Dallas.”

West Point officials did not return calls requesting comment.

Gladchuck did not say what specific criteria officials would use in selecting a city, but he said cities must agree to pay for transporting the entire Naval Academy and West Point student bodies — some 8,000 students — to the game.

Gladchuck also told the Board of Visitors that he and academy superintendent Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler had recently visited Detroit for discussions about potential corporate sponsorship for the game, but did not say with whom the discussions were held.

Corporate sponsorship would allow a company to attach its name to the game in exchange for a fee, which could be several million dollars.

“This is kind of new territory,” he said. “Nothing has been finalized yet. In terms of being innovative and looking for new ways to generate revenue, this is a gold mine. So, [keeping in mind the game’s] dignity and being careful of the level [of commercialization], we are taking a good hard look at what we can generate supplementally to support it.”