President Donald Trump will be in attendance Dec. 8 when the Army Black Knights take on the Navy Midshipmen at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, the culmination of the college football regular season.
The visit will make Trump the 10th sitting president to attend the historic rivalry between the two service academies, a tradition started by Theodore Roosevelt in 1901.
Trump attended the December 2016 game in Baltimore, Maryland, as president-elect. Barack Obama was the most recent sitting president to attend, when he went to a 2011 game at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins.
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Saturday’s game will be the 119th meeting between the two programs, and the 20th attended by a president. The Midshipmen (3-9) lead the overall series 60-51-7, but have dropped two straight to Army (9-2).
Trump’s attendance was confirmed by the White House on Tuesday.
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CBS will once again be the game’s broadcast home. Kick-off is set for 3 p.m. Pregame festivities will be featured hours before kick-off on a variety of networks, with national shows like ESPN’s College Gameday set to join, the show’s fifth year in a row covering the event.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jon Simkins is the executive editor for Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
