This past weekend, the Army-Navy football game made its return to the New York-Metropolitan area for the first time since 2002 to observe the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The game, being played for the 122nd time in history, was an incredible show of patriotism, with MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. hosting 82,282 spectators, a number that broke its college football attendance record.
The people were treated to a thriller on the gridiron as the Navy Midshipmen took home the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy with its upset of the Army Black Knights, 17-13. Navy held Army scoreless in the second half of the game, and ended an otherwise difficult season on a high note, winning the contest for just the second time in six years.
The day prior to that, though, another event took place on the Hudson River at Pier 86 in New York on a former aircraft carrier that was in use for 31 years. USAA and the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum hosted a media row ahead of the Army-Navy game. The event welcomed radio stations and other media outlets from across the country. On-air hosts, engineers and content creators left studios around the United States for the day and broadcast live from the USS Intrepid, bringing listeners a unique perspective on the game from a historic location.
Some of the shows that broadcast from the USS Intrepid included Boomer & Gio on WFAN, In The Loop on SportsRadio 610 Houston and Tiki and Tierney on CBS Sports Radio, along with programming from WDAE in Tampa, 97.3 The Fan in San Diego, KNBR in San Francisco, 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C., 104.5 The Zone in Nashville, KFAN in Minneapolis and Armed Forces Radio – just to name a few.
Guests at the event ranged from former athletes to active military officials and were available to be interviewed throughout the day. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, former Navy running back Napoleon McCallum, ESPN College GameDay panelist and former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard, CBS play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler and Westwood One color commentator Ross Tucker all made the rounds. Additionally, event attendees had the ability to tour the Intrepid, and take photos with the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
As the second-largest media row behind the Super Bowl, this event was representative of a rebirth of radio stations doing live shows on the road again. Radio stations were side-by-side broadcasting local and national programs. They also utilized video to create unique content to be shared on social media.
For many media outlets, it was the first time they were able to be outside of the studio since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the realization of a yearning to be among colleagues within the industry once again. As a hub for content creation and dissemination, the USS Intrepid was certainly the place to be last week. It represented a choppy transition to a “new normal” for society as a whole. A former aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy docked in the waters of the Hudson River served as an ideal location to welcome media personnel back outside of the studio on a crisp and sunny day in New York City.
Derek Futterman is an associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, email Derek@BarrettMedia.com or find him on X @derekfutterman.
The Commander in Chief Trophy stays with Army because none of the service academies won against their two opponents. The CiC Trophy stays at Army because they won it last year.
Go Navy!