For the first time in nearly six decades, major college football will be returning to one of the most iconic stadiums in all of sports.
In announcing its schedules for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons, Notre Dame confirmed it will be playing its Nov. 21, 2015, game against Boston College at Fenway Park. The night game at the home of the Boston Red Sox will be the first college football game played at the baseball stadium since 1956, and the first football game of any kind since 1968 (New England Patriots).
The Eagles used to play home games at Fenway regularly throughout the first half of last century, but last played at the stick-and-ball park in 1956.
That 2015 game will be part of the “Shamrock Series,” an annual arrangement that began in 2009 which sees the Irish hosting a neutral-site “home” game. The ongoing series will also include a 2014 game in Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium) against Purdue and in 2016 in San Antonio (Alamodome) against Army. All three of those games will be televised in prime time by NBC, incidentally.
The 2014 season is also the first in Notre Dame’s football partnership with the ACC that will include an affiliation with the conference’s postseason bowl alignment. The Irish will face four ACC foes in 2014, six in 2015 and five in 2016 and beyond.
“Our schedules the next three seasons, combined with our 2012 and 2013 schedules, truly exhibit Notre Dame’s intention to celebrate our independence,” said athletic director Jack Swarbrick in a statement.
“We will be playing in virtually every corner of the country and will have a strength of schedule that will serve us well in the new College Football Playoff format.”
Below are the complete schedules for Notre Dame the next three seasons:
2014
Aug. 30 RICE
Sept. 6 MICHIGAN (night)
Sept. 13 *Purdue at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Ind. (night)
Sept. 27 at Syracuse (MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.)
Oct. 4 STANFORD
Oct. 11 NORTH CAROLINA
Oct. 18 at Florida State
Nov. 1 vs. Navy (FedEx Field, Landover, Md.)
Nov. 8 at Arizona State
Nov. 15 NORTHWESTERN
Nov. 22 LOUISVILLE
Nov. 29 at USC
* Shamrock Series game
2015
Sept. 5 TEXAS
Sept. 12 at Virginia
Sept. 19 GEORGIA TECH
Sept. 26 MASSACHUSETTS
Oct. 3 at Clemson
Oct. 10 NAVY
Oct. 17 USC
Oct. 31 at Temple (Lincoln Financial Services Field)
Nov. 7 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 14 WAKE FOREST
Nov. 21 *Boston College at Fenway Park, Boston, Mass. (night)
Nov. 28 at Stanford
* Shamrock Series game
2016
Sept. 3 at Texas
Sept. 10 NEVADA
Sept. 17 MICHIGAN STATE
Sept. 24 DUKE
Oct. 1 at Syracuse (MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.)
Oct. 8 at North Carolina State
Oct. 15 STANFORD
Oct. 29 MIAMI
Nov. 5 vs. Navy (site TBD)
Nov. 12 *Army at Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (night)
Nov. 19 VIRGINIA TECH
Nov. 26 at USC
* Shamrock Series game