Notre Dame Looking To Play At New Stadium

According to this NY Times report, Notre Dame’s athletic director, Jack Swarbrick said that the school has been in contact with the Yankees and is hoping they can be the first team to play a college football game at the new stadium.

“We’ve been in contact with Yankee Stadium and asked and inquired,” Swarbrick said. “We will be discussing games with them, but we haven’t entered into any substantive discussions.”

Some significant college football games were played at Yankee Stadium, many involving Notre Dame. Swarbrick said the rich history of Notre Dame and Army playing at the Stadium would make the Black Knights a preferred opponent.

“It would be of great historical significance for us if it would be Army,” Swarbrick said. He added: “We would love that. Some of the most significant games in the history of college football involve those two schools and Yankee Stadium.”

Swarbrick said Notre Dame’s 35-13 victory against Army at West Point in 1913 is considered the most important in the program’s history. He said he was trying to plan significant anniversary games and would love to have the 100th anniversary of that game played at Yankee Stadium. But Swarbrick said the Yankees may want college football at the Stadium before 2013, and if that is the case, he would like the Irish to be part of the debut.

“On a personal level, the anniversary date aspect of it, with the 1913 game, would be great,” he said. “But if there’s going to be college football in Yankee Stadium, I’d like to be the first one.”

I think this is a pretty cool idea, and I hope there are many football games played at the new place. One of the things that made the original so special was all the great non-baseball events that were held at The Stadium. From boxing to football to concerts to papal visits, Yankee Stadium was home to many special event.

(Notre Dame vs. Army in 1969 from Flickr member Dick Leonhardt)

Besides Notre Dame, I think the NY Football Giants should play a game at the new stadium, after all they called the old place home from 1956 to 1973. I'm not sure how they would deal with the season ticket holders and all that stuff, but if they could work something out, maybe even for a preseason game, it would be pretty cool.

I'm only 26 so I never got to see football at The Stadium. My dad tells me stories all the time about the games he went to, even claims he was at the 1958 NFL championship game, better known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played," but then again there are probably two million people who say they were at that game. Did any of you go to any football games at the old stadium? If so, what was football like at Yankee Stadium?