Fenway Park will host three college football games in November, "all featuring New England college teams," according to Peter Abraham of the BOSTON GLOBE. The games are Dartmouth-Brown on Nov. 10, Maine-UMass on Nov. 11 and Boston College-UConn on Nov. 18. The ballpark also will host a "number of high school games." Fenway has hosted college football games before, including a BC-Notre Dame contest in '15 that drew a "sellout crowd of 38,686." Fenway Sports Management "offered to host a BC home game" last season, but was "rebuffed" by AD Brad Bates. The group instead "found a partner" in UConn AD David Benedict, who "agreed to move a home game against BC" to Fenway. UConn received a $1.125M guarantee -- the "largest in school history -- and 22,000 of 39,000 tickets to relocate its home game to Fenway." Abraham notes UMass "averaged 17,166 fans for the three games" it played at Gillette Stadium last season, and playing Maine "should help draw a good crowd to Fenway." The Red Sox also "plan to hold an Irish hurling match at Fenway once the football field is down." Meanwhile, several ballparks -- Yankee Stadium, Tropicana Field and AT&T Park -- have "hosted football bowl games in recent years." Red Sox President Sam Kennedy called playing a bowl game at the park "intriguing." However, he "believes the Sox will stay with regular-season games involving regional teams" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/13). Maine coach Joe Harasymiak said, "It’s really exciting just having the opportunity for our program and our fan base to be able to play down in Boston, especially at Fenway Park." Harasymiak noted that "plenty of UMaine fans will likely make the trip to Boston, if the last matchup with UMass is any indication." Harasymiak: "We had a great turnout last time when we were at Gillette, and this time should be even more special now" (BANGOR DAILY NEWS, 1/13).
