BOSTON — In addition to hosting (at least) 81 Red Sox home games, Fenway Park also is one to of the city’s favorite concert venues during the summer. Oh, and it’s also been known to transform into a football field, soccer pitch or hockey rink from time to time.
But never before has Fenway looked like it does right now.
Sitting high above the Green Monster and scoreboard in center field is a 140-foot man-made ski jump, which will host some of the best skiers and snowboarders from around the world Thursday and Friday.
“The concept of putting this stadium inside Fenway Park on this hallowed ground is a bodacious concept, and it’s come together,” U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association vice president of events Calum Clark said Wednesday at Big Air at Fenway media day.
And while these athletes are no strangers to hitting tricks off big jumps, this is a unique opportunity for all involved.
“To be here in the middle of downtown, in one of the most iconic sports venues in the entire world is an incredible opportunity,” 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics slopestyle bronze medalist Nick Goepper said. “And it brings the sport to tons and tons of people. There’s a lot of people that watch, just people that have never seen this.
“There’s not even that many people that showed up to the X Games, which is like the biggest event for us. And then we’re going to have, I hear numbers like 20,000 (people) and I’m like, ‘Wow. I’ve never skied in front of that many people before.’ So that will be really, really cool.”
Skiing and snowboarding, much like swimming, are sports that often get plenty of publicity during the Olympics once every four years, but that’s about the extent of their popularity. And for the events that do happen between the Olympics, a vast majority of them don’t take place on the New England mountains.
So while Fenway certainly isn’t a mountain, even if it looks like one right now, this week is important for the growth of the sport in New England and beyond.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool that we have the brand in Fenway Park,” 2014 Winter Olympics slopestyle gold medalist Joss Christensen said. “It’s not too often that we get to ski in these more urban environments. … So I think this is huge for us. This is going to be huge to really push our sport and show a lot of people what we do. I think it’s going to be really exciting. I know there are a lot of universities and colleges around here, so I think there’s going to be a good showing.”
So Fenway now can add “winter wonderland” to its résumé. Not bad.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@fenwaypark
