Attending the Second Annual Fenway Bowl — December 28, 2023

Most of my sports travel bucket list features baseball games, but there’s been one non-baseball event that I’ve wanted to attend for years. And I finally got to cross it off my list over the holidays.

I attended a college football bowl game at a ballpark.

And not just any ballpark, either — Fenway Park, the oldest park in the big leagues.

I’ve been lucky to see baseball games at Fenway several times over the years, including as recently as 2022. But the idea of checking out “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark” when it’s configured for football? Well, that’s enough to make me plan a trip to Boston in the middle of the Christmas break.

Some people might not realize that Fenway Park has a rich history when it comes to football. Before they were in Foxboro, the New England Patriots were known as the Boston Patriots and called Fenway Park home from 1963 to 1968. Before that, a handful of National Football League and American Football League franchises played their home games at Fenway. Several schools from New England and beyond — including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, and more — have played football games at Fenway.

The creation of the annual Fenway Bowl was announced in 2019 and slated to begin in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 and 2021 games, making the 2022 contest between Louisville and Cincinnati the inaugural event. The ’23 edition pitted the Boston College Eagles (6-6) against the 24th-ranked Southern Methodist University Mustangs (11-2).

I flew into Boston a day before the game, which had an early kickoff time of 11 a.m. My hotel was downtown, about 2.5 miles from Fenway. My original plan was to walk to and from the game, giving me the chance to sightsee through the city.

A steady rain on the morning of the game did little to deter me from my plan. While it would’ve been a lot drier (and quicker) to hop on the MBTA and ride to Kenmore Square, I opted to make the 50-minute walk as originally planned. Shocking to no one, the walk was cold and wet — but the rain felt like little more than a minor inconvenience when I turned right on Ipswitch Street, walked a short distance along Lansdowne Street, and happily saw this in front of me:

The above shot looks east on Lansdowne. You can see the white, arrow-shaped sign for Bleacher Bar, which is situated behind the center field fence. Beyond that is the rear of the Green Monster. I took my time moving up the street, hanging a right turn to walk into the elevated parking lot that home runs to left field sometimes land in. (You’ve likely seen it on TV broadcasts.) From there, I had a standard view of the Monster, but also saw something you don’t see during Red Sox games — the equipment truck from SMU:

I eventually made my way around to Jersey Street, which looked like this:

If you haven’t been to Fenway, it’s worth knowing how Jersey Street operates. As you can see, there are gates set up at each end of the street. Once gates open, fans are allowed to enter the street and then make their way into Fenway Park. At any point during the game, fans can exit the park and return to Jersey Street, which features an enormous team shop and several concession stands. It’s then possible to re-enter Fenway itself; in a sense, Jersey Street serves as an extension of the ballpark. I arrived about two minutes before the gates opened at 9:30 a.m., and while I was eager to get into Fenway, I wanted to spend a few minutes in the team shop first:

By this point, I’d been hatless in the rain for more than an hour. I knew that buying a hat would immeasurably improve my comfort for the rest of the day. There were dozens and dozens of choices, but I found one that I loved pretty quickly. (You’ll see it a couple of photos from now.)

With a hat to finally keep a little rain off my face, I entered the ballpark through Gate A, made my way along the concourse for a short distance, and went out to the cross-aisle on the first base side to get my first look at Fenway set up for football:

We’ll get into the specifics of the football configuration in a bit, but I was excited to take in the unique scene for a few minutes. Afterward, I continued along the cross-aisle and stood in the shadow of the Monster for this selfie:

And speaking of the Green Monster, here’s how it looked for the Fenway Bowl:

It was covered in large, black advertising banners that concealed the painted-on advertisements that are visible during baseball games. I loved how the manual scoreboard was set up to be used during the game, with the two quarterbacks’ jersey numbers listed instead of the usual starting pitchers’ jersey numbers. It’s always a thrill to see the Green Monster up close, and I couldn’t resist hanging out in this area for a few minutes and enjoying the view.

Next, I retreated to the covered seats for a brief reprieve from the rain. Fenway Park has modern-style plastic seats closer to the field, but these wooden seats in the upper part of the 100 Level date back several decades:

After a couple of minutes in this seating area — which was cool because it was deserted except for me — I decided to go back down to the concourse and look for a hot beverage. Fortunately, there was a Dunkin’ concession stand nearby, so I grabbed a hot chocolate and returned to the cross-aisle:

The hot chocolate was more of a tepid chocolate, so I gulped it down in about 30 seconds and then headed toward the field — stopping briefly to take this shot that demonstrates just how wet everything was:

From the front row of seats, I had a cool vantage point of the famous Fenway Park sign and press box:

I then moved almost directly behind home plate and went right up to the netting, which gave me this clear view of the SMU end zone:

I watched the action for a little while before my desire to continue wandering got the better of me. With several options to consider, I climbed to the top of the 100 Level seats, made my way along this narrow walkway …

… and eventually reached the right field corner area, where I had this view from the cross-aisle:

As you might’ve noticed, Boston College had yet to take the field. This gave this end of the field a fairly quiet and serene vibe, despite the excitement in the air. I was eager to see BC up close, but I also wanted to continue exploring. So, after a quick selfie at field level …

… I took a brief look at the bullpen area, which looked a lot different with the outfield fence and mounds removed:

Then, I climbed all the way up to the right field roof deck (now technically known as the Sam Adams Sam Deck) which is one of my favorite areas at Fenway Park. In a stroke of bad luck, BC ended up taking the field while I was making my way to the deck, so I missed the team by seconds. By the time I got to the deck and made my way to the railing for a photo, the field was already filled with Eagles:

There were only a handful of fans on the roof deck at this point; I’m guessing no more than a dozen in total. This made for a fun feeling as I explored the deck and checked out the field from different vantage points. Eventually, I made my way to about the 40-yard line, where I paused to take this panorama:

It was absolutely amazing to see the scene in front of me. I’ve wanted to watch a football game at a ballpark for many, many years, and standing on the roof deck and watching SMU and BC go through their pregame warmups was enough to make me temporarily forget about the rain and just watch the spectacle. This angle gave me a good look at Fenway’s football configuration. One thing you might notice is that the benches are on the same side of the field, which is unusual in football. The two teams would eventually have their cheerleaders out of bounds in the foreground, while their bands were positioned in the seats behind each end zone.

Part of me would’ve been happy to hang out in that spot for the entirety of the warmups, but I knew there were several more areas of the ballpark that I wanted to visit. As I made my way toward the stairs that would take me back to the main concourse, I glanced down toward the right field seats and couldn’t believe my eyes. The famous Lone Red Seat was not only empty, but no one was even close to it:

Immediately, I picked up my pace and made my way down the stairs and toward the seat. For those who might not know, the Lone Red Seat represents the landing spot of the longest home run hit at Fenway — a 502-foot shot hit by Ted Williams in June of 1946. It’s a popular attraction for visitors, but the rain was keeping most fans under covered areas and out of the main seating bowl. When I reached the main concourse, I shot down the steps of Section 42 until I made it to Row 37, where I turned right and saw this beautiful sight in front of me:

The seat was far too wet to warrant sitting down — and, fortunately, I can say that I sat in the seat for an inning way back in 2012 — so I was happy to nerdily gaze at the seat and take photos of it from several different angles. (Perhaps to the amusement of fans in the covered area of the concourse.) I also took the following shot to show the view of the field from the seat:

I spent the next 15 or so minutes watching the Boston College warmup from a few different spots around right field, including a festive and loud spot directly behind the BC band. Next, I took a quick selfie at field level that hopefully shows just how wet the conditions were …

… and then made my way to the concourse to assess the food options. Unfortunately, the diverse concession stands on Jersey Street were closed on this day, which limited the breadth of the fare that was available. I ended up choosing a steak sandwich, which turned out to be probably the driest sandwich I’ve ever eaten:

It was flavorless, too. At one point, I closed my eyes while chewing, and there was no way to determine what I was actually consuming. Still, I appreciated that it was hot, and scarfed it down quickly as kickoff approached. At the end of the national anthem, I snapped this shot of a very large, and very wet, U.S. flag as it was unfurled over the Green Monster:

I watched kickoff not far from atop the right field seats …

… and then did the opposite of what most football fans do after kickoff — headed away from the field to continue wandering around Fenway Park. As you likely know, I rarely focus on games when I visit ballparks, and I kept this mindset during this visit. For me, making the experience enriching was all about checking out every nook and cranny, rather than staying in one spot and doing nothing but follow the game. (Plus, the seats were absolutely soaking wet, which made sitting down for even a brief moment a bad decision.)

I’d enjoyed the pregame view from the Sam Deck enough to return now that the game was underway, and soon found myself with some views like this one:

You might have noticed a lot of empty seats, and it’s worth addressing them. The Fenway Bowl attendance was more than 16,000, and while some areas looked very empty, others were full. Specifically, most of the seating sections that were sheltered from the rain were packed, and the concourses, suite level, and various group areas were also filled with fans. It’s unfortunate that bad weather kept most fans away from the lower grandstand seats, but I can assure you that there was a crowded, festive feel in many parts of the ballpark. (A big part of this vibe was due to Boston College’s participation, as it felt like a home game for the Eagles.)

As much as the views from up top were great, there was a noticeable lack of shelter. The rain continued to pelt down, and I decided that a sojourn to the covered concourse on the main level would be my next stop. First, though, I looked down to document the scene below me. There was plenty of standing water in various places around the roof deck — but, happily, my Blundstone boots were thankfully keeping the rain at bay:

I’d debated what footwear I’d take on this trip, and almost traveled with running shoes because I knew I’d be doing a ton of walking. I’m so relieved that I chose boots; when I finally pulled them off at the end of a long day, my socks were bone dry.

For the next little while, I meandered along the concourse and checked out several things — a few displays that paid tribute to some Red Sox all-time greats, an original 1970s-era bullpen cart, and a display that celebrated the more than 56,000 COVID-19 vaccines that were administered at Fenway. (Getting your shot at Fenway would be about a million times cooler than at a clinic or community facility, right?)

After several minutes of being dry in the concourse, I once again returned to the seating bowl midway through the second quarter. The SMU band was positioned along the third base side, and I stood a few yards away and watched its short performances between plays:

As the clock ticked closer to halftime, I walked the length of the cross-aisle. Here’s a picture that shows the crowd in the covered rows versus the open-air rows:

Of course, no visit to Fenway Park is complete without going up to the Green Monster level — which is what I did just before halftime. As always, ushers understandably prevented fans without proper tickets from accessing the Monster seats, but it was possible to stand at the entrance to the Monster and take in the scene. Here’s a view I had for a moment from behind the left field foul pole:

I wasn’t interested in watching the bands perform at halftime, so I went back out to Jersey Street and was surprised to find it virtually empty:

At Red Sox games, the street is packed most of the time, but the rain was keeping people in sheltered areas. For almost the entire halftime, I browsed the team shop and appreciated the dry and warm conditions. I also picked up a Fenway Park magnet for my growing magnet collection. (For the last couple of years, I’ve been collecting magnets from the various ballparks, cities, and other attractions I visit. They’re affordable, don’t take up a lot of space at home, and serve as a nice memento of my travels.)

I spent much of the third quarter continuing to explore Fenway while occasionally going out to the seating bowl to watch the action for a few minutes here and there. One of the things I like about Fenway is that I seem to discover a new-to-me area every time I’m there. Here’s a spot that I don’t remember visiting in the past. It feels as though this corridor is virtually unchanged from how it might’ve been in 1912, which I think is amazing:

Another area that I noticed for the first time was Fenway Farms, a 2,400-square-foot garden that grows on the roof of the ballpark. It grows organic herbs and veggies that are used at concession stands and restaurants throughout the ballpark, and generates about 6,000 pounds of produce a year:

I returned to the roof deck above right field for the start of the third quarter, once again enjoying a good view of the action — particularly when the play was happening on my side of the 50-yard line:

I loved the view from the roof deck enough that I watched more than half of the third quarter from this level, occasionally repositioning myself to follow the game from slightly different vantage points. As the fourth quarter began, I decided to see how close I could get to field level. After a few minutes of walking, I had my answer:

Presumably, the lack of fans’ interest in using the field level seats meant that the ushers weren’t controlling access to these sections. After taking the above selfie, I went down to the front row and remained there for the rest of the game. As is often the case with football, front-row seats don’t provide much of a view of the play itself. That was fine by me, though, as I was kept entertained by monitoring the video board and watching the SMU bench — specifically, the offensive linemen, who congregated just a few yards from where I stood:

Admittedly, I was kind of mesmerized about being in the proximity of so many giants. I’m 6’3″, so I seldom see people who are taller than me. The SMU O-line made me feel like a shrimp. See #78? That’s junior lineman Dalton Perdue, who’s 6’8″, 320 pounds. And #51? That’s starting right guard and captain Justin Osborne, who’s 6’5″, 314 pounds. These guys were just so freaking enormous, and I can’t deny that I was in awe of seeing them. Here’s a closer shot of 6’4″, 292-pound Ben Sparks and Osborne a little while later; their body language was indicative of the fact that unranked Boston College was about to pull a 23-14 upset.

A fun byproduct of standing so close to the field is that I suspected I might be visible on the game broadcast. After getting home, I meticulously watched the entire Fenway Bowl again and kept a watchful eye for myself. Fortunately, I was clearly visible on two occasions — both in the fourth quarter. That’s me in the blue jacket:

When the final whistle blew and BC celebrated, I headed to the seats above the home dugout to watch SMU leave the field. Some players bolted immediately, but most of the squad remained and gave the two-fingered “pony ears” salute to the fans:

As the last of the players disappeared into the dugout, I made my exit, too. I’d been at Fenway Park for five hours by this point, out in the elements for six hours, and hadn’t sat down for a single second. It was time to begin the 50-minute walk back to my hotel, grab some dry clothes, and make yet another walk — this time, for a warm booth and a seafood dinner at Union Oyster House, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the United States.

I’m really glad that I made the trek to Boston for the Fenway Bowl. With attending a football game at a ballpark checked off my bucket list, I think it’s only right that I set my sights on seeing a hockey game at a ballpark next.