The Army-Navy game, one of the most storied rivalries in college football, will be played one week earlier in the season starting next year to avoid conflicts with the expanded College Football Playoff.
The change was announced Monday after the CFP said it would double in size from 12 to 24 teams next season. The 128th edition of Army-Navy is now set to take place in Philadelphia on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2027, instead of Dec. 11.
“As long as the integrity of that game and exclusive rights for that window are good for us, I’m good with it,” Navy coach Brian Newberry said on a video call with reporters. “Everybody knows how important that game is. But to maintain that exclusive window, to honor that game the way it should be honored, I’m really pleased with that.”
Army-Navy has been a tradition on the second Saturday of December since 2009. Before that, it was on the first Saturday of the month. The rivalry dates to 1890.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March barring the CFP and other postseason games from airing at the same time as Army-Navy. The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
“The Army-Navy Game is one of those games that carries meaning that far extends beyond the football field,” said B. David Tyler, a professor of sport management at UMass who has studied sports rivalries. “Preserving that and preserving the stories and the narratives that come with it are important enough to warrant special exceptions in college football and in this new playoff era.”
Army athletic director Tom Theodorakis expressed his thanks to stakeholders for their work in making this happen.
“As we look ahead to future games, we are excited about the opportunity to build on our strong foundation and secure new commitments that demonstrate a shared passion to grow the game and drive economic impact in host cities,” Theodorakis said.
Army and Navy are members of the American Conference, whose commissioner, Tim Pernetti, said the change protects the significance of the game.
“This common-sense approach expands access, strengthens schedules, brings more postseason games to campus and keeps more programs in the playoff hunt, delivering meaningful competition and memorable experiences for fans,” Pernetti said in a statement.
The highest-ranked team from the Group of Six — which includes the American — is guaranteed a spot in the CFP, along with 19 at-large selections chosen by a committee.
“In recent years we’ve seen teams -- both Army and Navy, more often Navy but Army, too — where they have put together a team that is a top-24 team in the country,” Tyler said. “This gives that opportunity for them to compete.”
This year's game will be played at the Meadowlands in New Jersey on Dec. 12. Having it a week earlier allows players at the Naval Academy to get through facing Army before fall semester final exams.
It was not clear if Army and Navy will maintain a bye week before their annual showdown next year or beyond that. The stakes remain high no matter the timing.
“Obviously that game is something we prepare for year-round, to a certain extent,” Newberry said, “so it won’t change anything.”
AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins contributed to this report.
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FILE - The Navy, left, and Army line up for the snap at the line of scrimmage during the first quarter of an NCAA football game, Dec. 9, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson, File)
KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — People gathered in Krakow ’s main square on Monday evening for a silent march to commemorate the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting, in which a 24-year-old Polish gunman killed six people and wounded 15 others.
Shoulder to shoulder, people walked solemnly through the packed square, some clutching flowers. They placed candles where bullet marks were visible. Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, otherwise political rivals, walked side by side.
The melody from Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” rang from the tower of St. Mary’s Basilica on the Main Square. The night after the attack, St. Mary’s Trumpet Call, a traditional five-note melody that plays every hour from that tower, was paused for the first time since World War II. A prayer was read out once the song finished.
The attacker, wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest, drove into the main square in Krakow’s Old Town on Saturday and opened fire. The square is a major tourist destination in Poland’s second-largest city. Several foreigners were among the dead and wounded.
The gunman, Michał Oksiński, died at 4:30 a.m. on Monday, authorities said. He had been in critical condition since the attack and had undergone several operations.
Authorities also found the bodies of his sister, mother and father at the family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Krakow. Authorities said that they believed Oksiński killed his family, possibly while they slept, before heading to Krakow.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said Saturday that Oksiński held “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views.
“We are first of all investigating if he was inspired by anyone, if someone helped him,” Eryk Stasielak of the Krakow branch of the national prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press.
He said that authorities are still investigating the attacker’s motives and are trying to access his electronic devices for more information.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Karolina Gałecka said that authorities were examining the meaning of numerous symbols and patches sewn onto Oksiński’s clothing or found at his home.
Prosecutors said that they found a yellow flag bearing a black snake, known as the Gadsden flag, hanging on the wall of the attacker’s room. The flag originated during the American Revolution and was later adopted by the U.S. Tea Party movement.
Authorities recovered 11 weapons from Oksiński, his car or home, including two AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, prosecutors said.
Oksiński and his father held gun permits. He had trained at a local shooting club, which said in a statement that he “was never trained in our club in the areas of dynamic, tactical or combat shooting.”
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland. However, in mid-October three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia took place within four days, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children. The attackers used knives or sharp objects and some were said to be interested in the far right.
Prime Minister Tusk said that the school attacks were fueled by the online “glorification of violence.” He said that the acts could be associated with “nihilistic violence,” a term used by authorities to describe acts of violence driven by a nihilistic worldview and misanthropy rather than specific political goals.
Oksiński’s military-style equipment and weapons were similar to those of other “extreme right lone actors” committing attacks around Europe and the world, said Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague, Netherlands.
He said that even without an explicit link between the attacks in Krakow and at the schools, they could be viewed as part of “a series.”
Tomasz Safjański, a security expert, told Rzeczpospolita newspaper that Poland had experienced its first case of an “active shooter” and that the perpetrator was Polish, even as authorities remain focused almost exclusively on external threats such as Russia’s hybrid warfare.
“We are failing to address the radicalization of young people,” he said. “By focusing on an external enemy, the state overlooks the threat that is growing within our schools, our neighborhoods and online.”
Officers Jakub Kulik and Artur Morański were patrolling the area when they were called to intervene. Police fired the first shot within three minutes of receiving the initial report. The officers chased the attacker and fired at him with their service weapons as he fired a semiautomatic rifle. Kulik continued firing even after he was shot. Both officers were seriously wounded.
Tusk called them the “real heroes” in a post on X. “They most likely saved the lives of many human beings, without regard for the risk of losing their own lives," he wrote.
Kulik, 24, was in critical condition, prompting officials to issue an urgent appeal for blood donors. A fundraiser for the officers and their families has so far raised more than 6 million zlotys ($1.5 million).
Krakow’s mayor announced that both officers would be named honorary citizens of the city. Two surgeons who happened to be nearby during the attack helped save the officers’ lives.
Izabela Woźna, a 53-year-old painter and mother of four, was killed in the attack. She had opened an exhibition of her work in Krakow on Friday evening.
Krakow Academy of Fine Arts confirmed that Magdalena Oksińska — the suspect’s sister — had been one of its third-year students. It said an employee’s sister had also been shot twice.
“Nothing will ever be like before. The delicate tissue of our academic community was painfully wounded,” the academy said in a statement Sunday.
“Magdalena Oksińska, 21 years old, a queer person, was an absolutely talented painter, photographer, poet and writer,” architect Pavko Krajka wrote in a social media post accompanied by images of her colorful paintings.
“Her death is a great loss for Krakow, Polish, European and queer culture.”
Among those killed in the square were citizens from Poland, the U.K. and Austria. The wounded included people from Britain, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria.
People gather in the main square in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, to commemorate the victims of a shooting attack. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
People gather in the main square in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, to commemorate the victims of a shooting attack. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
People look to a bullet hole in the window of a restaurant at the main square two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
An auto portrait of Magdalena Oksinska, the killed sister of the gunman, is displayed in a gallery in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
People lay flowers in the city center two days after a deadly shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A man takes photos from bullet holes in wall two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
Flowers and messages laid out on the main square two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
People look to a bullet hole in the window of a restaurant at the main square two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A woman lights a candle to commemorate the victims two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A woman with a dog crying near the main square two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A man holds a candle as he stands at the main square in Krakow, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026 where several people were shot the day before. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
People arrive at the main square in Krakow, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026 where several people were shot the day before. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A couple embrace in the main square in Krakow, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026, where several people were shot the day before. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
Chairs lie scattered across a cafe terrace at the main square in Krakow, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026 where several people were shot the day before. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
