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Fenway Bowl

The Fenway Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Organized by ESPN Events and Fenway Sports Management, it features teams from the American Athletic Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference.[1] The bowl is one of three active bowl games staged in a baseball stadium, along with the Pinstripe Bowl (Yankee Stadium) and Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Chase Field).[2][3][4]

History

Holy Cross and Boston College playing at Fenway Park in 1916

American football games at Fenway Park date to 1912, the year the venue opened.[5] Various high school, college, and professional football teams have played at Fenway, including the Boston Patriots during the American Football League (AFL) era, and the Boston College Eagles.[5] Prior to the Fenway Bowl, no bowl game had been scheduled for the ballpark.

Organizers had planned for the inaugural playing of the Fenway Bowl to be during the 2020–21 bowl season. On October 23, 2020, it was reported that the bowl would not debut as planned, citing COVID-19 pandemic concerns.[6] Postponement of the bowl was confirmed by organizers the following week, with the temporary Montgomery Bowl being created as a substitute.[7][8]

On May 27, 2021, organizers announced a game date for the 2021–22 bowl season of December 29, 2021.[9] On November 4, 2021, Wasabi Technologies signed on as the title sponsor of the game.[10] However, the game was canceled three days prior to kickoff due to COVID issues within the Virginia team; they had been set to face SMU.[11]

On December 17, 2022, as part of the 2022–23 bowl season, the Fenway Bowl was played for the first time, featuring Cincinnati and Louisville. The following year, the first ranked team was invited to the bowl, as SMU (17th in the AP poll and 24th in the College Football Playoff rankings) faced Boston College.[12]

Game results

Rankings are based on the AP poll prior to the game being played.

MVPs

Appearances by team

Updated through the December 2023 edition (2 games, 4 total appearances).

Teams with a single appearance

Won: Boston College, Louisville
Lost: Cincinnati, SMU

Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2023 edition (2 games, 4 total appearances).

Game records

Source:[17]

Media coverage

The bowl has been televised by ESPN since its inception.

References

  1. ^ "New bowl game at Fenway Park to match teams from ACC, AAC". San Francisco Chronicle. September 16, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2019.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Boston's Fenway Park to host new 2020 college football bowl game between ACC, AAC teams". Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  3. ^ "Fenway Park will reportedly begin hosting a bowl game in 2020". Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  4. ^ "Fenway Sports Management and ESPN Events Officially Introduce "The Fenway Bowl"". Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Football at Fenway Through the Years". MLB.com. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  6. ^ Saunders, Alan (October 23, 2020). "Report: 2020 Fenway Bowl Won't Be Played, 2nd ACC-Tied Bowl to Cancel". pittsburghsportsnow.com. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  7. ^ "ESPN Events Reveals 13-Game College Football Bowl Schedule for 2020-21: Inaugural Launch of the Fenway Bowl Postponed". espnpressroom.com (Press release). October 30, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  8. ^ "2020-21 Bowl Season Schedule Announced". bowlseason.com. October 30, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  9. ^ "Inaugural 'Fenway Bowl' Announced For December 29". WBZ-TV. CBS. May 27, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  10. ^ "Fenway Bowl Announces Wasabi Technologies as Title Sponsor". Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  11. ^ Adelson, Andrea (December 26, 2021). "Military, Fenway Bowls Canceled Because of COVID-19 Issues". ESPN. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  12. ^ "No. 17 SMU To Face Boston College In Wasabi Fenway Bowl". smumustangs.com. December 3, 2023. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  13. ^ Golen, Jimmy (December 17, 2022). "Interim coach Deion Branch leads Louisville past Cincinnati at Fenway Bowl". CBS News. AP. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  14. ^ Cubit, Alexis (December 17, 2022). "Louisville dominates Cincinnati in Fenway Bowl to retain Keg of Nails". Louisville Courier Journal. Retrieved December 17, 2022 – via MSN.com.
  15. ^ @FenwayBowl (December 28, 2023). "Your Wasabi Fenway Bowl Offensive MVP, Thomas Castellanos!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 28, 2023 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ @FenwayBowl (December 28, 2023). "Congratulations to this year's Defensive MVP, Kam Arnold!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 28, 2023 – via Twitter.
  17. ^ "Cincinnati vs. Louisville - College Football Game Summary - December 17, 2022". ESPN. Retrieved 27 December 2022.

External links