One of these days, Army-Navy ratings will max out — but not yet.
The annual Army-Navy game had a 5.9 overnight rating on CBS Saturday afternoon, up 5% from last year (5.6), up 16% from 2015 (5.1), and the highest mark for the game since 1994 (6.5).
Army’s narrow win, which peaked at an 8.5 from 6-6:15 PM ET, earned the seventh-highest college football overnight of the season. The top six are a who’s who of marquee games — the championship games of the SEC (8.4) and Big Ten (8.0), the Iron Bowl (7.8), Alabama-Florida State (7.3), Ohio State-Michigan (6.7) and Ohio State-Penn State (6.4).
Army-Navy ratings have risen almost exponentially since the game moved to the week after conference championship weekend in 2009. In nine seasons since the scheduling change, the game has set or tied a decade-high six times — including the last five years.
Compared to 2008, the last time the game took place on conference championship weekend, overnights have increased 146% from a 2.4.
It should be noted that Army-Navy was one of just three college football games this season to air completely unopposed by other FBS action — joining the SEC Championship Game and Tennessee-Georgia Tech on Labor Day.
Host city Philadelphia led all markets with an 11.3 rating, followed by Columbus, Ohio (11.0), Jacksonville (10.9), Norfolk, Va. (10.6) and Baltimore (10.4).
Army-Navy Ratings Chart
[Sat. numbers from CBS Sports]
