Project Daylight
LIVE Ezekiel Okafor published: Project 2025's DHS Immigration Blueprint Is in Motion — and It Is Dismantling the Diplomat… · 66 entries on record · 13 items on the plan · day 3
The Record · Democracy & Institutions · 7F89694D
concern / Democracy & Institutions

EO 14396: Federal Government Claims Broadcast Scheduling Authority Over Private College Football to Protect Army-Navy Game

Written by Unsigned
Published
April 25, 2026 · 11:05 AM
Section reviewed by Teresa Calderón · "Fast-tracked at section stage — entry has no specialist byline (news / submission / external). Single managing-editor review." Reviewed by Teresa Calderón · "The piece is well-grounded and editorially strong, but the conflict-of-interest paragraph makes a causal claim — that the EO 'directly protects the commercial value' of the CBS rights deal for a 'politically aligned media company' — that goes beyond what the source or any cited corpus can support. That framing implies intent and quid pro quo that we cannot document; it needs to be narrowed to an observable fact. One additional trim: 'Department of War' detail is already in the source and the reframe calls it out correctly, but 'raising questions about the document's drafting rigor' is editorializing about motive; the plain fact (the department was renamed in 1947) is enough."

Executive Order 14396 directs the FCC and Commerce Department to coordinate with the CFP, NCAA, and broadcast rights holders to carve out an exclusive national broadcast window for the Army-Navy Game on the second Saturday in December, invoking public-interest broadcast obligations as a potential enforcement lever — a use of executive authority with no clear legal precedent and significant First Amendment and regulatory overreach concerns.

EO 14396 presents itself as protecting a cherished military tradition, but the real-world scheduling problem it addresses is modest and already being voluntarily managed by the industry. In 2025, competing bowl games were deliberately scheduled to avoid a head-to-head broadcast conflict with Army-Navy. In the current 12-team CFP format, the playoff's first-round games begin the week *after* Army-Navy, meaning no actual conflict exists today. The EO is written in anticipation of a potential CFP expansion to 16 or 24 teams — an expansion that, as of March 2026, has not been approved, with talks for a 2027 format still underway.

The legal mechanism the EO reaches for — FCC public-interest authority over broadcast licensees — is a significant stretch. The FCC's own experts and independent analysts have noted that the agency's public-interest standard applies to broadcast licensees, not to private scheduling contracts between the NCAA, the CFP, and media rights holders. Legal scholars warn that compelling broadcasters or private leagues to alter their scheduling would represent an unprecedented expansion of government power over private contracts and potentially raise First Amendment concerns. The EO cannot directly compel the CFP or NCAA, which are private entities, to do anything. What it can do is use the FCC as a regulatory cudgel — threatening license review — to pressure CBS, ESPN, and other broadcast partners into compliance.

A notable fact shadows this EO: CBS holds exclusive broadcast rights to the Army-Navy Game through 2038; its parent, Paramount Global, is controlled by the Ellison family, prominent Trump supporters. Whether that relationship shaped the EO's drafting is unknown, but the alignment is worth noting as a matter of public record. The EO also references the 'Department of War' — a name retired in 1947 when Congress established the Department of Defense — a factual error in a signed presidential document. Beyond the legal vulnerabilities, the EO does nothing to address the deeper structural issue: if the CFP expands, Army or Navy might themselves have to choose between playing in their iconic rivalry game or competing in the playoff — a tension the EO's broadcast window mandate does not resolve.

The humanitarian alternative

The legitimate policy goal — preserving a protected broadcast window for a nationally significant military tradition — can be achieved without executive coercion of private broadcast contracts. The CFP's own governing documents and conference agreements already contain scheduling provisions; the administration could engage the CFP Committee, the American Athletic Conference (which includes both academies), and Congress to codify scheduling protections through an amendment to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which already grants antitrust exemptions for certain leaguewide broadcasting agreements. Congress could direct the CFP to maintain a blackout window around Army-Navy as a condition of that antitrust umbrella. Alternatively, Army coach Jeff Monken's own suggestion — moving Army-Navy to Thanksgiving weekend with a negotiated exclusive window — would organically resolve any CFP expansion conflict while freeing up the second Saturday in December for both the playoff and the academies to potentially participate in it. That approach respects private contract law, avoids FCC regulatory overreach, and better serves the academies' own interest in CFP eligibility.

Falsifiable predictions

What this entry claims will happen, and what data would prove it wrong. The Reckoner revisits these against current reality.

  1. The FCC will not formally adopt a rule or enforcement standard requiring broadcast licensees to protect the Army-Navy Game window within 12 months of the EO's signing, because it lacks clear statutory authority to regulate private sports scheduling contracts.
    Horizon: 12 months Falsified by: An FCC rulemaking order or enforcement action specifically compelling broadcast schedule deference to Army-Navy is issued and survives initial judicial review by March 2027.
  2. No CFP game will conflict with the 2026 Army-Navy Game broadcast window, but this will be due to the existing 12-team CFP schedule structure — not because of EO 14396.
    Horizon: December 2026 Falsified by: A CFP or bowl game is officially scheduled to overlap with the 2026 Army-Navy Game broadcast window, or CFP officials publicly credit the EO as the reason for schedule deference.
  3. If the CFP expands to 16+ teams for 2027 or later, the scheduling conflict this EO targets will re-emerge and require either congressional action or voluntary CFP accommodation, demonstrating the EO's limits as a durable policy tool.
    Horizon: Within Trump II Falsified by: CFP expansion to 16+ teams occurs and the Army-Navy Game retains an uncontested exclusive broadcast window in December with no schedule conflict, credited directly to EO 14396 enforcement.

Grounded in

Original source — excerpted

executive order EO 14396: Preserving America's Game

"[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 57 (Wednesday, March 25, 2026)] [Presidential Documents] [Pages 14639-14640] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2026-05867] [[Page 14637]] Vol. 91 Wednesday, No. 57 March 25, 2026 Part II The President ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Order 14396--Preserving America's Game Presidential Documents Federal Register / Vol. 91 , No. 57 / Wednesday, March 25, 2026 / Presidential Documents ___________________________________________________________________ Title 3-- The President [[Page 14639]] Executive Order 14396 of March 20, 2026 Preserving America's Game By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose. For over a century, the Army-Navy Game, known as ``America's Game,'' has stood as a symbol of excellence and the American spirit. Now, the recent and potentially ongoing expansion of the College Football Playoffs (CFP) and other postseason college football games threatens to encroach upon the second S…"

#fcc#broadcast-regulation#executive-overreach#college-football#first-amendment#media