The BC Army Game Won’t Be a Shutdown Casualty After All

The government shutdown initially threatened to suspend federal service academy athletic events.

Boston College’s football team will face Army’s Black Knights, after all, despite a few days of concern that the federal government’s partial shutdown might suspend intercollegiate sporting events at the federal service academies. There were reports Wednesday night that the game would happen as scheduled, but B.C.’s athletic director didn’t confirm them until Thursday when he tweeted the following:

The concern started when the Navy put out a statement reporting that the Department of Defense had suspended intercollegiate athletic competitions at its service academies as a result of the government shutdown, potentially suspending the Navy versus Air Force game. That, in turn, suggested that the U.S. Military Academy might not be available to face Boston College this weekend, but apparently the Department of Defense gave its permission to teams to use independent funding to host the games.

That’s certainly good news for the athletes because as it stands, a resolution to the funding battle isn’t looking so imminent.