If modern-day college football’s good enough for Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field, why not the Beantown Bandbox?
According to the Boston Globe, it very well could be as the paper is reporting that discussions have commenced on a proposal could bring a future Notre Dame-UConn game to historic Fenway Park, home of the MLB’s Boston Red Sox. Before you get too excited, though, the talks are described as being in the very preliminary stages.
Citing sources, the Globe writes that “UConn officials feel the idea has merit and Notre Dame may be willing to shift a home game to Boston.”
The Irish and Huskies currently have no games or series scheduled through the 2021 season and, as SNYU.com notes, UConn’s future schedules are in a state of flux due to Big East expansion.
The last time a football game was held at the venerable ballpark was in 1968, an NFL matchup pitting the Cincinnati Bengals against the then-Boston Patriots. The paper also notes that, prior to that game, Fenway Park had served as the venue for a host of games at the professional, collegiate and high school level. On the collegiate side, Dartmouth College, Boston College and Boston University have all played games at the park.
Wrigley Field has already played host to the November 2010 game between Illinois and Northwestern that featured just one usable end zone due to the friendly confines of the cozy stadium. It’s unclear whether such a situation would arise at Fenway.
Kansas State-Syracuse and Syracuse-Army have played games in recent years at Yankee Stadium, which also serves as the home to the Pinstripe Bowl.
There were also talks in 2010 about Missouri playing a game at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals.
UPDATED 2:42 p.m. ET: In the report mentioned above, the talk was that a 2014 Notre Dame-UConn game was under discussion. The Irish responded to the report, well, this way.
“Media reports today that we will play UConn in Fenway Park in 2014 are inaccurate,” athletic director Jack Swarbrick stated.
Of course, the report didn’t state that the Irish and Huskies will definitely play in Fenway in 2014, or any other year for that matter. It should also be noted that Swarbrick’s denial made no mention of 2013 or 2015 and beyond.