Fenway Park Offers Deep History Of Fantastic Football

When Fenway Park comes to mind, so to does the aura of Boston Red Sox history that lives inside the walls of America’s oldest baseball stadium.

Football, however, has also taken the spotlight for nearly as long as baseball dating back to the park’s opening in 1912.

That same year, local Boston high schools took the gridiron at the famous baseball stadium, which hosted a World Series in its first year. High school games have returned to Fenway Park during Thanksgiving week, with four games being played over two nights leading up to the holiday.

Two years later, Fenway Park welcomed college football to the field, with Boston College defeating Norwich in 1914 to start another legacy of gridiron glory in Boston.

Decades later, Fenway Park hosted two of Boston’s prominent professional sports teams. In addition to being the home of the Red Sox, the Boston Patriots also marked the ballpark as their home stadium from 1963 to 1969 before eventually shifting out to Foxboro, Mass. as the New England Patriots.

Throughout other eras, more professional teams as well as college powerhouses such as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have hosted games at Fenway Park to bring football back in Boston.

Most recently, Fenway Park has emerged as a bowl location, hosting the Wasabi Fenway Bowl. After two COVID cancellations, the inaugural game played in 2022 with the Louisville Cardinals, led by interim head coach and Super Bowl XXXIX MVP Deion Branch, defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats. In 2023, one team may just have a hometown advantage as the Boston College Eagles take on the Southern Methodist Mustangs.

While baseball lure dominates the history of Fenway Park, football continues to ensure its place in the legacy of an American landmark.