Why the Air Force Academy canceled its athletics during the government shutdown

Air Force forward Ryan Swan, shown earlier this month. (Dougal Brownlie/The Gazette via Associated Press)

The shutdown of the federal government that began at midnight already has an early casualty: the Air Force Academy’s athletic schedule.

The military academy announced Saturday morning that it would be canceling intercollegiate athletic events “until further notice” due to the government shutdown. That included a home slate of men’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s ice hockey and men’s gymnastics. The women’s basketball team was on the road at Fresno State; that game also was canceled.

Air Force said it would attempt to reschedule as many games as possible once the shutdown was over.

“Athletics are a huge part of how we develop future officers at USAFA,” Air Force Academy spokesman Lt. Col Allen Herritage said via email. “They instill character traits that will serve these Airmen well throughout their entire careers. That said, due to the government shutdown we’ve had to cancel activities not directly related to national defense.”

Herritage added that, while many of the athletic department’s personnel are civilians, the school was canceling activities “given the limitations imposed by the shutdown.”

[Everything you need to know about a government shutdown]

Federal agencies began shutting down overnight for the first time since October 2013; that standoff lasted 18 days before a spending bill was passed. The longest shutdown on record lasted 21 days, from Dec. 5, 1995, to Jan. 6, 1996. Congress reconvened Saturday morning in hopes of reaching a deal to reopen the federal government.

Along with canceling games, Air Force athletic teams will not be able to conduct their regularly scheduled practices during the shutdown. Air Force’s men’s and women’s basketball teams have games scheduled for Wednesday vs. Utah State and next Saturday vs. Boise State. Men’s ice hockey plays Friday and Saturday at Niagara (N.Y.).

Meanwhile, Naval Academy teams will continue to compete as scheduled.

“Almost everybody that works in the athletic department is civilian. We have a few coaches that are government and they would not be able to work, but we would be able to cover them,” Navy athletics spokesman Scott Strasemeier said in an email. Army has not commented on its plans at time of publishing, but its men’s basketball team did play its scheduled game Saturday afternoon.

All three athletic departments operate as separate, private entities from the government-run academies. The Naval Academy Athletic Association was founded in 1891 as a nonprofit organization to “promote, influence, and assist in financing the athletic contests of the midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy.” The Air Force Academy Athletic Corporation began operation in 2013 and the Army West Point Athletic Association began in 2017.

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