I know it sounds like a joke, but this is more than serious. The recent partial government shutdown due to a budget impasse in Congress has now officially infected the world of sports.
The shutdown has caused the sports programs at the service academies (Army, Navy, Air Force) to be temporarily suspended. As a result of the temporary program suspension, the three teams are in jeopardy of having to skip their games for this upcoming weekend, leaving two games at risk of being abandoned.
The first game at risk of falling victim to the shutdown is Army vs. Boston College. Boston College has been in contact with Army athletics in an attempt to find some sort of means of making the game happen, but so far to no avail.
The second game at risk of being cancelled has a little bit more riding on it. This Saturday, Navy and Air Force were set to play their annual rivalry game that has been a tradition between the two academies since 1972, with the rivalry itself dating back to 1960. The game is one in a series of games between the academies that determines the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, which is an annual trophy given to the service academy with the best record against one another.
I know that you could very easily say, “So what? It’s just a trophy.” This is true, but the revenue those games pull in is very real. The Navy vs. Air Force game for Saturday has already sold out, presenting a couple of major problems!
It’s still not a definite yet that these games will be cancelled, but let’s just say that the chances of those games actually happening are looking like a resounding slim-to-none right now.