Bowl Games in baseball stadia

[Marcus Garvey]

This year, there are 2 I can think of: The St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Filed (Dome) and the Emerald Bowl at AT&T/PacBell/SBC/WhateverTheHellTelecomCompany Filed in San Francisco.
In the past, the Insight Bowl was held at Chase Field in Phoenix and I believe there was a bowl game in Seattle at the Mariners stadium.

While I agree there are way too many bowl games, I do think it's kind of neat when they play in baseball stadiums. Although the lines of site aren't always great. It's a throwback to the pre-war days of college football when some urban schools rented the local MLB stadium or big games would be moved to a baseball park because it could handle the bigger crowd. Off the top of my head I can think of the following stadia that hosted college games, either on a regular or ad hoc basis. This is certainly not an exhaustive list:
Fenway Park: Boston College
Yankee Stadium and Polo Grounds: Army, Fordham, various nuetral site games.
Shibe Park: Villanova
Griffith Stadium: Georgetown
Forbes Field: Pitt

[Franks Tanks]

This year, there are 2 I can think of: The St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Filed (Dome) and the Emerald Bowl at AT&T/PacBell/SBC/WhateverTheHellTelecomCompany Filed in San Francisco.
In the past, the Insight Bowl was held at Chase Field in Phoenix and I believe there was a bowl game in Seattle at the Mariners stadium.

While I agree there are way too many bowl games, I do think it's kind of neat when they play in baseball stadiums. Although the lines of site aren't always great. It's a throwback to the pre-war days of college football when some urban schools rented the local MLB stadium or big games would be moved to a baseball park because it could handle the bigger crowd. Off the top of my head I can think of the following stadia that hosted college games, either on a regular or ad hoc basis. This is certainly not an exhaustive list:
Fenway Park: Boston College
Yankee Stadium and Polo Grounds: Army, Fordham, various nuetral site games.
Shibe Park: Villanova
Griffith Stadium: Georgetown
Forbes Field: Pitt


I didnt know Pitt played at Forbes Field as old Pitt stadium has been around forever. NYU also has some great FB teams in the old days and played at the NYC baseball parks.

[813Jag]

I'm want to the St. Pete bowl just for that reason.

[Marcus Garvey]

I didnt know Pitt played at Forbes Field as old Pitt stadium has been around forever. NYU also has some great FB teams in the old days and played at the NYC baseball parks.

I forgot about NYU. I had to double-check on Pitt. Pitt Stadium opened in 1925, well after Pitt was an established power. I figured they had to have been playing their games at the largest sporting venue in Pittsburgh prior to that, and that would have been Forbes Field.

[Franks Tanks]

I forgot about NYU. I had to double-check on Pitt. Pitt Stadium opened in 1925, well after Pitt was an established power. I figured they had to have been playing their games at the largest sporting venue in Pittsburgh prior to that, and that would have been Forbes Field.

That makes sense.

[Marcus Garvey]

I'm want to the St. Pete bowl just for that reason.

Do you have tickets yet?
You'll want to consider where you get seats. I went to an Insight Bowl at Chase Field a few years back. I got seats in the endzone, which was the 1st Base line.
Terrible seats. The gentle incline of lower deck seats at a baseball stadium make for crappy end zone viewing. I think it would have been better if I'd gotten 3rd Base Line/Sideline seats instead.

[813Jag]

Do you have tickets yet?
You'll want to consider where you get seats. I went to an Insight Bowl at Chase Field a few years back. I got seats in the endzone, which was the 1st Base line.
Terrible seats. The gentle incline of lower deck seats at a baseball stadium make for crappy end zone viewing. I think it would have been better if I'd gotten 3rd Base Line/Sideline seats instead.
I haven't yet but I will keep that in mind.

[SunCoastBlueHen]

I haven't yet but I will keep that in mind.

From what I read, the endzones will be located in right field and on the third base line.

A local news show actually brought a semi-pro punter out to see if he could hit any of the lower catwalks. They determined that the only reachable catwalks were actually outside the field of play (the guy did manage to put a ball into sting ray fish tank in right field, though). :p

[appfan2008]

do any fbs or fcs schools still play in baseball parks?... i believe portland state does... anyone else?

[Marcus Garvey]

From what I read, the endzones will be located in right field and on the third base line.

A local news show actually brought a semi-pro punter out to see if he could hit any of the lower catwalks. They determined that the only reachable catwalks were actually outside the field of play (the guy did manage to put a ball into sting ray fish tank in right field, though). :p

If found the seating diagram on Ticketbastard's website. I thought the filed could be moved a bit more away from the 1st base line/sideline to improve the site-lines of the endzone/3rd baseline seats. But now that you mention the catwalks, I suspect that's why they've shoe-horned it so close to the 1st base line seats.

overall, looking at the diagram, it apears to be a better than average configuration for a baseball stadium hosting a football game. I'm sure 40 years ago, it would have been considered better than most NFL stadia.

[Marcus Garvey]

do any fbs or fcs schools still play in baseball parks?... i believe portland state does... anyone else?

I don't think so. Louisville played at a minor league ballpark for decades, but moved out several years ago.

Arizona State desperately needs to invest a ton of work in Sun Devil stadium. The strucutal support steel is corroding badly. If the repairs are so extensive that they have to play elsewhere for a year or two while it's being fixed, look for them to negotiate with the D'Backs for Chase Field.
The Bidwells will try to f--k over ASU should they need to share the stadium in Glendale. Also, Glendale is really far from campus, while students will be able to easily get to downtown by jumping on light rail which runs through campus.

Just my xtwocentsx

[brownbear]

U of Minnesota plays at the Metrodome where the Twins play, though that isn't a baseball stadium at all, and the Gophers are moving to an on-campus outdoor stadium next fall.

U of Miami plays at Dolphins Stadium, also not much of a baseball venue.

Also, the International Bowl is being played at the Rogers Center/Skydome in Toronto.

If Quallcom Stadium counts as a baseball stadium (the Padres moved out in 2004), then you can add that, since it is home to SDSU and the Poinsettia and Holiday Bowls.




And who can forget the 90,000 seat baseball stadium in LA:

http://z.about.com/d/baseball/1/0/L/D/-/-/coliseumgallery1.jpg

[Marcus Garvey]

I'm referring to stadia designed specifically for baseball.

[Go...gate]

I'm referring to stadia designed specifically for baseball.

Colgate played in War Memorial Stadium (also used by the Buffalo Bisons), Yankee Stadium (couple times) and against the USMMA (Kings Point) at Shea Stadium. The 1965 Army-Notre Dame game was also held at Shea Stadium.

You should also consider the annual Whitney Young Football Classic, which was contested at Yankee and Shea Stadiums for a number of years.

Boston University also used Fenway Park in the post-WWII period until the late 1950's and played a major-college schedule during that time.