Fenway Park Football: Notre Dame Fighting Irish To Host UConn Huskies At ... - The Pigskin Report (blog)

Fenway Park used to be home to more than just baseball. It used to host the Boston/New England Patriots as well as the Boston Red Sox. But with no football games there since 1968, Fenway has taken to holding other events, such as the NHL Winter Classic with the Boston Bruins and a soccer match featuring Liverpool FC and AS Roma.

But after nearly 45 years, Fenway could be getting back into football.

American football.

More specifically, Irish football.

Fenway Park is looking to host a college football game in 2014 between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Connecticut Huskies. While there would be many things still to iron out, it is an intriguing possibility.

College football has seen many interesting homes as of late, including the Irish beginning this season against Navy in Dublin, Ireland. Both the old and new Yankees Stadiums have hosted a game or two, including the Pinstripe Bowl at the new house. Even Wrigley Field played host to the Northwestern Wildcats and Illinois Fighting Illini, although they could only use one end zone due to safety precautions.

No one knows for sure whether this game between the Irish and Huskies can take place at Fenway, especially in 2014. Notre Dame does have an opening but, with the news that they will be playing five games against ACC opponents soon, UConn does not fall under that category. They are still in the Big East.

Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly is certainly intrigued by the possibility, but he also has quite a few concerns as well.

”I just saw that. You know me, I love Fenway Park. I just don’t know if it’s big enough,” Kelly said. ”As long as they do the due diligence, and I know [Notre Dame athletic director] Jack [Swarbrick] is looking for great venues, and I don’t think they played a game there in a long time. If it’s on the schedule, we’re going to play it.

”Being a Boston guy, baseball has not been very good there, so maybe we’ll bring some football.”

The problem is that the Fighting Irish used to playing in front of over 80,000 fans in Notre Dame Stadium. Although, they did travel to Ireland in Aviva Stadium to play in front of just over 35,000. Fenway Park holds around 34,000 for Red Sox games, so it is unknown as to how many people they can cram in for a college football game. They did fit over 38,000 in for the 2010 Winter Classic between the Bruins and Flyers.

If this contest does take place, it would more history for Fenway Park, which celebrated 100 years this season. It would also be a good thing for college football.