MIAMI, Fla. — President Donald Trump said Saturday night that he would sign an executive order that protects the Army-Navy game’s standalone time slot on the second Saturday of December from possible College Football Playoff expansion.
“This incredible Tradition is now at risk of being pushed aside by more College Playoff Games and Big Money. NOT ANYMORE,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
— Navy Athletics (@NavyAthletics) January 18, 2026
The CFP management committee is set to meet Sunday to discuss potentially expanding the event from 12 teams to 16 next season. While most of the conferences and Notre Dame favor expansion to 16, the Big Ten and SEC have final say over the format, and the two leagues have been at a stalemate for months.
The Big Ten has proposed a 24-team format that would take at least a year or two to implement, and would like some assurances that further expansion would remain a possibility before it agrees to go to 16 teams next season.
If no consensus can be reached on expansion, the CFP would stay at 12 next season.
It’s unclear if a presidential executive order has the power to secure an exclusive television window, but administrators working on expansion have been considering ways to work around the Army-Navy game.
A 16-team field, depending on the bracketing, could include a two-game opening round — matching the 13th and 16th seeds and Nos. 14 and 15 — to be played on the second weekend of December. The management committee, comprising 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director, has discussed scheduling those two games before and after Army-Navy, which typically kicks off at 3 p.m. ET.
Army-Navy has not always had a day to itself on the college football schedule, but it is a tradition that has evolved over the last 25 years. The game has been held on the second Saturday of December and broadcast by CBS since 2009.
Army and Navy are members of the American Conference, but their annual rivalry game is a nonconference game played the weekend after conference championships and the CFP field is set.
American Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti told The Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Md., in December that the Army-Navy game is a “national treasure.”
“We will do whatever it takes to protect and defend it,” Pernetti told the newspaper.
President Trump agrees.
“I will soon sign a Historic Executive Order securing an EXCLUSIVE 4 hour Broadcast window, so this National Event stands above Commercial Postseason Games,” Trump posted. “No other Game or Team can violate this Time Slot.”
The CFP national championship game, matching No. 1 Indiana and No 10 Miami, is slated for Monday night in Miami Gardens, Fla., and the president is expected to attend.