The Boston Red Sox’s marketing group, which this week signed an agreement with London-based soccer club Fulham, would like to host an English Premier League game at Fenway Park.
Story via Bloomberg
“Sam Kennedy, president of the Sox’s Fenway Sports Group, said the company has talked internally about the idea, but hasn’t brought it forward to the world’s richest soccer league. Fenway Sports Group’s parent New England Sports Ventures owns Major League Baseball’s Red Sox and Fenway Park.
“We do not have any traction yet in the U.K. with this idea, to be clear, but we’d like to pursue the concept of bringing an English Premier League game to Fenway Park, if they would ever be interested,” Kennedy, also the chief sales and marketing officer for the Red Sox, said in a telephone interview. “We think it would be a cool way to celebrate Fenway’s 100th anniversary” (in 2012).
The Premier League announced in February 2008 it wanted to add a 39th regular-season game overseas starting in 2010-11 to take advantage of the league’s global popularity. Soccer governing body FIFA, the English Football Association, managers, players, fans and media all voiced opposition to the idea.
Kennedy said November would be an ideal time to play a game at Fenway, as the baseball season would have just concluded. While it would be great to expose American fans to a game “that matters in the standings,” he’s aware logistics may make it hard to work out from the Premier League’s side.
39th Game
“We know how hard it is to schedule matches, so it may be tough to pull off and it may just be an idea and nothing more than that,” Kennedy said. “But we’d love to explore that with our friends at Fulham and the folks at the English Premier League.”
Premier League Chief Executive Officer Richard Scudamore has backed the addition of the 39th game to the schedule. Some clubs have resisted the proposal, which has been put on hold.”
“On May 30, 1931, 8,000 fans came out to Fenway Park to see the New York Yankees of the American Soccer League beat Celtic 4–3. The Yankees goalkeeper, Johnny Reder, would later return to play for the Boston Red Sox. Fenway Park was also used by the NASL team, Boston Beacons, as their home field for the 1968 season.” – Wikipedia
Image via BaseballPilgrimages
