Globe Life Field will host a college football game next fall. Here are the details
Globe Life Field and the Texas Rangers are getting into the college football business.
Army and Air Force are scheduled to meet in a 2021 matchup of service academies being billed as the Commanders’ Classic, sponsored by Lockheed Martin. Tickets for the Nov. 6 game, five days before Veterans Day, are on sale now.
The game is scheduled to return in 2022 as part of a two-year contract. The 2022 game is scheduled for Nov. 5. Air Force will be designated as the home team in 2021, while Army will be the “home” team in 2022.
The programs are set to play their 2020 matchup Saturday at West Point, N.Y. The game was pushed past the high-profile Army-Navy game last weekend, which Army won 15-0, because of COVID-19 concerns.
Air Force owns the all-time series record, 37-16-1, and won the 2019 game 17-13. The series dates to 1959, but doesn’t have the same profile as the Army-Navy game.
It likely never will, but the Commanders’ Classic is an opportunity to add to the rivalry while also putting more eyes on the ground-based academy style of football.
“Obviously, Army-Navy is a special rivalry, but Army-Air Force and Air Force-Navy, for that matter, are special matchups as well,” Army athletic director Mike Buddie said. “We wanted to elevate the profile of the matchup. We think this opportunity to create an event around the series was worth exploring, and as luck would have it, the Texas Rangers were like-minded.”
College football games of this nature have become commonplace in Arlington. AT&T Stadium, which is next door to Globe Life Field, has hosted a number of college football games, whether it’s a marquee early-season matchup, a Big 12 championship or the Cotton Bowl, which moved to AT&T Stadium in 2010.
Rangers executive vice president Sean Decker said that the football field will run from the first-base dugout to left field and has been pushed as far as possible toward the right-field seats. The left-field wall will be removed in order for the field to comply with NCAA safety guidelines for end zones.
Globe Life Field was built to be a multi-purpose facility and not simply a baseball-only facility for the Rangers.
Multiple concerts were scheduled for 2020, but had to be postponed or canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The $1.2 billion ballpark with a retractable roof also became the site of more than 50 high school graduation ceremonies earlier this year.
In addition to the 30 Rangers home games in the abbreviated 2020 baseball season, the ballpark also played host to three rounds of the MLB postseason, including the World Series.
The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo ended its 10-day run at Globe Life Field last weekend after becoming a temporary host with large gatherings banned in Las Vegas.
Air Force athletic director Nathan Pine said he was reassured by how well the World Series and NFR were conducted, just in case the pandemic is still a concern next fall.
“We’ve very hopefully that by next November this is far in the rear-view mirror,” Pine said. “We know we’re working with great partners and we know that together we’ll figure a way through this and put on a great game and hopefully have a full stadium.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 10:20 AM.
