why is the Army and Navy games played in Philadelphia?

Answer 1

The first poster is correct. While this traditional rivalry game has been played in many different locations over the years, it settled in the aptly named Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia as an equal point between the 2 academies. Of course, Veterans Stadium was destroyed a few years back so the game has been moved to Lincoln Stadium (the new Philadelphia Eagles home as well). See below link for a full run down on the history of the game.

Answer 2

It's not so much about the distance, as it is (theoretically) about a neutral playing field. It is the same reason that Georgia and Florida stopped playing at their own fields (they now play at the stadium in jacksonville FL, two hours from gainesville, seven hours from athens, still in FL, tell me that's neutral).

Because it is such a big game, it prevents (again, theoretically) one team from packing the stands. Each team is given half of the tickets to sell, and each year, they will take turns being considered the 'home team', but it still takes away home field advantage for either team. That, and it makes for better publicity on the rivalry. "It's so intense, they can't risk playing at either of their own fields, so the pick the field of battle carefully....blah,blah, blah." All in all, it is one of the oldest and most intense rivalries in college football, and, in my opinion, makes for a better game because these kids are headed for the military, not the NFL, and the Academies (army, navy and airforce) are not allowed to recruit in the same manner that all the other teams do, but they still have the guts and the heart to compete against them.

Go Navy! Beat Army!

Answer 3

My initial guess is that it about equal distance between the 2 service academies. I was an army officer and my dad was a naval officer...and that question never came up when we would watch the Army-Nay Game.