Despite shutdown, military academies to play football

BALTIMORE Army, Navy and Air Force academy teams will be playing football this weekend, even though some other service academy sports are still suspended because of the government shutdown.

The Pentagon says everything is on hold at Navy through Sunday except for Saturday's football game against Air Force. They received the go-ahead to play because the game is not funded by the government. Army will play its game at Boston College.

According to Navy's website, 19 other events were either postponed or canceled Saturday and Sunday, including men's and women's soccer games, swim meets and a women's volleyball match.

Navy's athletic director says a Navy home game typically brings in about $4 million from tickets, sponsorship, television and radio rights fees, and other revenues, including parking and concessions.

The service academies have played before during a government shutdown. Navy played at Air Force in 1990 under similar circumstances, and hosted Tulane in 1995 during a seven-day shutdown.