Notre Dame and UConn could play a 2014 football game at Fenway Park in Boston, The Day has reported.
The game would be considered a home game for the Fighting Irish, who recently announced they would stay independent in football but play five ACC games per season.
Back in March, Boston Red Sox executives indicated that they were pursuing a high-profile college football game for Fenway Park. Although the Irish have been less than stellar on the field lately, they are a nationally recognized brand that would bring attention and fans to the game.
And since UConn is only about 85 miles away, the Huskies offer local interest and could also bring a sizable crowd to Fenway Park.
In order to book this game, Notre Dame will likely have to do even more schedule shuffling than we indicated last week in our Notre Dame future football schedule analysis.
The Fighting Irish already have 11 games scheduled in 2014, and need to add three ACC teams to fill their five-game requirement. The addition of a game against UConn at Fenway Park would put Notre Dame at fifteen games, meaning three current games would have to be postponed or canceled.
Opponents that could be moved off of Notre Dame’s 2014 schedule include Northwestern, Purdue, Rice, and Temple.
UConn doesn’t have any schedule conflicts, as they currently have no announced non-conference games for the 2014 season.
In the two schools first and only meeting back in 2009, UConn beat Notre Dame 33-30 in South Bend.
Updates:
When notified of the possible match-up against UConn at Fenway Park, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly told reporters “I think it’d be cool. I’d like to do it.”
Later, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick released the following statement:
“We have work to do on our future football schedules, given the announcement last week relative to our upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference relationship,” Swarbrick said in the statement. “However, media reports today that we will play Connecticut in Fenway Park in 2014 are inaccurate.”
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