Part of the pageantry of Air Force football will undergo a major change.
No longer will the full cadet wing be required to attend home football games. The two exceptions will be the opening game on parents’ weekend, which took place this past Saturday, and the Oct. 5 contest vs. Navy.
For other games at Falcon Stadium, a quarter of the cadets, or roughly 1,000, will be required to attend.
“This change is taking place to maximize attendance across all 30 intercollegiate athletic home events,” according to an email from an Air Force spokesman to The Gazette sent on Thursday evening. “This is being done to not only bolster team spirt and unity, but also to embody the values of camaraderie and resilience, which is essential for leadership.”
Air Force will be the lone academy that does not mandate full attendance, as Army and Navy have not changed their policies.
“That’s pretty wild,” a Navy spokesman told The Gazette when informed of Air Force’s break from the tradition.
It was not specified if the decision, heavily rumored for the past few weeks and confirmed Thursday, came from the secretary of the Air Force or the superintendent of the Air Force Academy.
“They’re unbelievable,” said Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, a 1989 graduate of the academy, when asked last week about the cadet wing’s presence at games. “Just the spirit, but more than anything else … there are seven days when there are thousands of…
