Historic Army-Navy Game Up 31%, Sets TV Ratings Record

The time-tested axiom of “winning sells” was proved once again as a historically strong Army-Navy college football game delivered historic ratings.

The Dec. 14 clash, pitting an 11–1 and nationally ranked Army team against 8–3 Navy, produced an average viewership of 9.4 million on CBS—representing the highest figure for the game since at least 1990. “America’s Game,” won by Navy 31–13, elevated strongly from a television audience average of about seven million over the past decade—and also beat a prior record of 8.45 million set in 1992. 

There are some existing attributes aiding the annual Army-Navy game, including a mid-December schedule slot largely to itself between other conference title games and most bowl games, as well as the pageantry connected to the academies’ pathway to future military service. But the surprising on-field success of both teams this year clearly helped draw in additional casual fans. 

That draw of 9.4 million, a 31% boost from a year ago, easily beats out a slew of major events in pro sports over the past year, including a historically strong Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last June and MLB’s 2024 All-Star Game that averaged 7.44 million. 

Army is now scheduled to play in the Dec. 28 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., with its opponent recently changed from Marshall to a 5–7 Louisiana Tech team due to mass departures to the transfer portal for the Thundering Herd. Navy, meanwhile, will face Oklahoma in the Dec. 27 Armed Forces Bowl.