The first college football game at Globe Life Field will feature a traditional rivalry of United States Service Academies. Details of the Lockheed Martin Commanders’ Classic between the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy were announced this morning.
The two-year agreement begins on November 6, 2021 with Air Force as the home team. Army will be the home squad for the return meeting on November 5, 2022. Game times and broadcast information will be announced at a later date.
The Texas Rangers will host and operate the games with marketing assistance from Dallas-based LST Marketing. The 2021 matchup of FBS rivals will be the first college football game hosted at Globe Life Field.
Tickets for the 2021 Lockheed Martin Commanders’ Classic will go on sale today at 1 p.m. at texasrangers.com/commandersclassic.
“We are honored to have Air Force and Army play the inaugural football game at Globe Life Field,” said Texas Rangers Executive Vice President of Sports & Entertainment Sean Decker. “Honoring our military heroes is very important to the Texas Rangers, and we expect the environment and other activities surrounding this great matchup will make for a very exciting weekend in Arlington.
“I want to thank Lockheed Martin for its title sponsorship of the Commanders’ Classic. Lockheed Martin embodies our nation’s commitment to our Armed Forces, and it is the ideal relationship for this storied matchup. I also want to recognize the efforts of our partner LST Marketing for its assistance in making this event a reality.”
Air Force (3-2) and Army (8-2) will play this Saturday, Dec. 19 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York in the 55th meeting of the two Service Academies. Troy Calhoun is in his 14th season as head coach at Air Force while Jeff Monken is completing his seventh season as head coach at Army.
Air Force leads the all-time series, 37-16-1, winning the 2019 contest, 17-13 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Falcons and Black Knights have played just three times at a neutral site, 1959 (13-13 tie) in New York’s Yankee Stadium and 1963 (Army, 14-10) and 1965 (Air Force, 14-3) at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
Globe Life Field opened this past spring and is the home of Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers, which played 30 games in the park without fans in the abbreviated 2020 season. The facility then hosted 16 MLB neutral site postseason games in the National League Division (3) and Championship (7) Series and the World Series (6). Games in the final two playoff rounds were played in front of approximately 11,500 fans per game, the maximum capacity allowed by MLB.
Designed with a retractable roof to be a premier multipurpose sports and entertainment venue, Globe Life Field was the home of more than 60 high school graduations in May and June and most recently hosted the 10-night Wrangler National Finals Rodeo from Dec. 3-12 with sellout crowds of 14,500 per performance.
The Globe Life Field seating capacity for the Lockheed Martin Commanders’ Classic is expected to approximate the 40,518 figure for baseball. The 1.8 million square foot facility includes sports lighting as well as broadcast locations that are specific to football.
A large contingent of Air Force and Army cadets and two Academies’ are expected to attend the games at Globe Life Field. The Rangers will also be working with Air Force and Army to create ancillary events in the Arlington Entertainment District and Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex around the Lockheed Martin Commanders’ Classic.
Globe Life Field, Entertainment District
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