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President Donald Trump signed the “Preserving America’s Game” executive order on Friday, which promises to keep the annual Army-Navy game a standalone event during the college football season.
Trump signed the order during the Midshipmen’s visit to the White House on Friday to celebrate their Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy victory, which is given to either Army, Navy or Air Force if one of the teams goes 2-0 against the other opponents during the season.
However, Stephen A. Smith was not fond of the move.
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U.S. President Donald Trump displays an executive order he signed titled “Preserving America’s Game” to preserve the broadcast time slot for the Army-Navy football game during a ceremony awarding the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to the Navy Midshipmen football team in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
“It’s stuff like this from the President of the United States that pisses me off. And he’s sticking his nose in places that I don’t believe the President of the United States should be sticking their nose in,” Smith said during his Friday afternoon SiriusXM show on Mad Dog Sports Radio, via Awful Announcing.
“Who the hell does this man think he is? Every single time I try to be fair and fair-minded to this president, he pulls some BS like this. It really pisses me off. It really pisses me off. Who the hell does he think he is? If the Army-Navy game is on NBC, FOX and CBS should be excluded from having its own content on its networks? Because the president issued some executive order that he doesn’t want anything competing with Army-Navy, that he wants the focus of the sports world on Army-Navy. Well, what if they don’t want that? What if they don’t want to watch Army-Navy? Who the hell is he to tell the broadcast world, ‘Nah, not at this time.’
“Who the hell does he think he is?! It’s that kinda BS that’s got our country in a tizzy right now. That right there. Because you overstepping your damn bounds. Don’t you got enough things to be focused on? Now you trying to tell us what damn football games we should watch?! Who the hell does he think he is?!”
President Donald Trump looks on before the college football game between the US Army and Navy at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, on Dec. 13, 2025. (Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
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With the current College Football Playoff schedule, the Army-Navy game currently sits between conference championship weekend and the first weekend of the 12-team playoff. However, potential expansion could lead to earlier games. The Army-Navy game is set to be broadcast on CBS until 2038.
Navy defeated Army in a thrilling 17-16 victory to win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy in December during a historic season that saw the program finish 11-2, marking the team’s first back-to-back 10-win seasons in program history.
“The annual Army-Navy game is truly one of the most special occasions in all of sports, but in recent years, the College Football Playoff expansion has encroached on this sacred four-hour time slot traditionally reserved for Army-Navy,” the president said during his speech Friday. “I’m going to sign an executive order to ensure that the second Saturday in December is preserved exclusively. Nobody’s playing football – not Ohio State against Notre Dame, not LSU against Alabama – nobody’s going to play football for four hours during that very special time of the year in December. It’s preserved forever for the Army-Navy game.”
Earlier this month, Trump held a roundtable to try to combat the effects of NIL in college sports.
Trump joked that the ramifications of signing the executive order might result in a lawsuit.
“Of course, we’ll probably get sued at some point. We will get sued, but we win those suits, and we’ll win this one.”
President Donald Trump walks onto the field with Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland, Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, left, and Lt. Gen. Michael Borgschulte, Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, right, unseen, before the start of the 126th Army-Navy NCAA college football game at M&T Bank Stadium, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Baltimore. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
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Trump first signaled his intentions to sign the executive order in a Truth Social post in January, saying at the time, “This incredible Tradition is now at risk of being pushed aside by more College Playoff Games, and Big TV Money. NOT ANYMORE!”
‘ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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