Army-navy Game Has Future In Baltimore

College Football

M&T Bank Stadium is expected to host at least one Army-Navy football game - and perhaps more - as the schools seek sites for future games, according to officials familiar with the process.

The committee of representatives from the Naval Academy and West Point could announce sites for games after 2009 by week's end, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because selections have not been finalized.

Baltimore had previously learned it was among four finalists, competing with Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field - which will host this year's game - as well as FedEx Field in Landover and the new Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

The committee is examining bids for games from 2010 to 2014.

But Chet Gladchuk, Navy's athletic director, said Wednesday that the panel will probably name hosts for more than those five games - and that more than one city will be named.

"All the cities bid on five years, but we've got the latitude to award six years or eight years or 10 years," he said. "I'd say the odds are pretty good that when the dust settles we're going to go beyond five years."

Baltimore is hoping to get the 2014 game in part because that is when the bicentennial of "The Star-Spangled Banner" will be celebrated.