Amongst everything else, the current government shutdown has also impacted sports. According to a report by ESPN.com, all intercollegiate athletics that involve service academies are in jeopardy of being canceled, especially the football games this weekend. On Saturday Air Force faces Navy and Army is at Boston College.
From ESPN :
The Air Force Academy announced that: "At this time, travel for all intercollegiate athletics is cancelled — this includes the Air Force-Navy game on Saturday, 5 Oct." However, it's not clear from the statement whether the game was permanently called off, or if the game would be played as scheduled if the government's stalemate is solved in the next two days.
A spokesman for Navy said that a decision about its game against Air Force would be made by noon ET on Thursday. "We have been in close communication with Army athletics officials regarding the potential impact of the government shutdown on this Saturday's football game," Boston College athletic director Brad Bates said in a statement. "Obviously our intention is to exhaust all possibilities to play the game and we will communicate the information promptly as soon as we have resolution."
The Air Force Academy said it would try to play home games, but that it was working with Mountain West Conference officials and other schools to reschedule games away from the school. But the department of defense said no games will be played as long as Congress fails to fund the government, which happened when the House and Senate couldn't agree on a spending bill by midnight on Oct. 1.
So there you have it, we now have a small lockout among service academies due to government foolishness. The cancellation of these games will greatly affect the people who work at these games and it could greatly affect ticket sales.
