The Army-Navy Game hit a new high, comfortably surpassing the old mark by a million viewers.
The annual Army-Navy Game averaged 9.4 million viewers on CBS Saturday, marking the largest audience for the rivalry since 1989. The previous high was 8.45 million in 1992.
The Midshipmen’s win finished just outside of the top ten college football audiences this season, placing 11th. It was easily the most-watched game this season that did not involve the Big Ten or SEC, well ahead of 6.9 million for the Arizona State-Iowa State Big 12 Championship.
For CBS, Army-Navy ranks second among college football games this season behind the previous weekend’s Big Ten Championship. The network recently extended its deal to carry the game through 2038. In the wake of its loss of SEC rights, Army-Navy may well be the biggest draw on CBS in most seasons.
It should be pointed out that Army-Navy is one of just a handful of college football games this season to have aired unopposed by other FBS action. The lack of competition is a key reason why viewership for the game has surged in the 15 years since moving to the weekend after the conference championship games.
Yet it would be inaccurate to suggest that interest in Army-Navy has not grown organically. Even in 2020, when much of the season was pushed back, Army-Navy was the top game of a crowded college football weekend that included all of the power conferences (albeit with just over four million viewers).
Army-Navy was easily the top non-NFL program of the weekend and even came close to the NFL regional window on FOX the following day (9.8M).
