The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
The Game headed to Fenway for 2018
NEW HAVEN — Prominent outside venues have contacted Yale and Harvard in the past few years about moving their annual rivalry, one of the oldest and most storied in college football.
Yankee Stadium was interested not long ago. So was Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. But for the past 123 years, the schools have agreed to keep with tradition and play “The Game” on their respective campus venues.
That changes next fall, when Yale and Harvard travel to Fenway Park in Boston to conclude the 2018 season. The game is scheduled for Nov. 17. It also happens to be the 50th anniversary of perhaps the greatest clash in series history, the epic 29-29 tie of 1968.
Harvard Stadium, con-
structed in 1903, is currently undergoing exploratory work as engineers study the structure in advance of a potential renovation. Portions of the stadium were marked as work zones during the past season.
No official plan for an overhaul has been announced, and a Harvard press release made no mention of the game being moved because of construction. A university spokesman said current work is not the reason the game is being moved and that the opportunity to play at Fenway was “too good to pass up.”
Whatever the reasons for the venue switch, it’s a landmark decision in a rivalry that dates back to 1875.
The early years of Yale Harvard football saw games often played on off-campus or neutral sites. In 1883 and 1887, it was held at the Polo Grounds in New York on Thanksgiving Day.
For six straight seasons between 1889 and 1894, the teams took to Hampden Park in Springfield, Mass. But the 1894 game was so violent — at least five players were hospitalized because of dirty play and cheap shots on both sides — the rivalry was suspended for two years.
Starting in 1897, when the series was renewed, games were held at campus venues. Harvard used Soldier Field until constructing Harvard Stadium on the site in 1903; Yale Field was home to the football team until the Yale Bowl was completed in 1914.
“The Game” typically plays to the largest crowds of the season at Yale and Harvard. On Nov. 18, a crowd of 51,426 watched Yale win its first outright Ivy League championship since 1980. Sellout crowd are the norm when Yale visits Harvard Stadium, which lists capacity at 30,323.
Several college football games have been played at Fenway Park over the past three seasons, including one between UConn and Boston College earlier this month which drew a crowd of 20,133. Fenway has seating for 37,495, all of which are expected to be taken for Yale and Harvard.