The Defense department made a last-minute change to allow overseas troops to watch the NFL playoffs during the government shutdown

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January 20, 2018 10:39 PM

The Armed Forces Network is not available during the government shutdown, meaning troops overseas may not see the NFL playoffs on Sunday.

The federal government is currently in a partial shutdown.
Due to the shutdown, the Department of Defense's Armed Forces Network was not operational Saturday.
A last minute change Sunday allowed the games to be shown.

Deployed members of the US military rely on a few comforts while away from home — one of those being the ability to watch American sports on the Armed Forces Network (AFN).

However, for those troops hoping to catch the NFL playoffs on Sunday, they nearly missed out.

Due to the government shutdown, AFN was not be operational on aturday, risking the loss of the broadcast of the NFC and AFC Championship games on Sunday since all nonessential services are scrapped during a shutdown. AFN is operated by the Department of Defense.

At the last minute, however, the Department of Defense reclassified AFN as an "essential" service, letting military personnel see the games.

While the game will be shown, those members of the military overseas will still be on duty during the shutdown and will not be getting paychecks.

On Saturday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders seized on the AFN blackout, tweeting a picture of a television with an AFN logo and the phrase, "Due to the government shutdown, AFN services are not available."

<a href="https://t.co/smBBi... @ AFN Broadcasting

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