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2021, 2022 Army vs. Air Force football game will be played in Texas

The game is headed to a neutral site for the next two seasons.

By Mitchell Northam
NCAA Football: Army at Air Force Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

This year’s Army vs. Air Force game is different because it’s being played after the Army-Navy game for the first time ever.

But game between the Black Knights and Falcons will be different for the next two seasons too, because it’s going to be played at a neutral site.

Globe Life Field — the home of MLB’s Texas Rangers — will host the Army vs. Air Force football game in 2021 and 2022. Official dates and times for the contests have not yet been determined.

The Rangers announced the news Thursday morning.

Lockheed Martin is the title sponsor for the games, which are being dubbed “the Commanders’ Classic.”

“It is thrilling to have this opportunity to play one of our rival academies in the state of Texas, home to many military installations and service men and women,” Army athletic director Mike Buddie said in a statement. “I’d like to thank Sean Decker and the entire Texas Rangers organization for providing this wonderful opportunity for our cadet-athletes and fans, and to Lockheed Martin for its tremendous support of the event.”

Globe Life Field is a 40,300-seat baseball stadium in Arlington, Texas that features a retractable roof. It opened this past May.

The 2021 Army vs. Air Force game will be the first FBS football game played at the stadium. This past baseball season, in the midst of the pandemic, it hosted both the NLCS and the World Series.

Army vs. Air Force has traditionally been played on the campuses of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. However, this won’t be the first time the game has been played at a neutral site. The game was played at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 1965 and 1963, and at the old Yankee Stadium in New York in 1959.

The Black Knights are 16-14 overall in games played in the state of Texas. When playing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Army has an 8-4 record. Jeff Monken’s side last played in the region in 2018, beating Houston 70-14 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.

Heading into this weekend, Air Force owns the all-time record against Army, 37–16–1.