Frozen Fenways - jumped the shark?

[Harry Cleverly]

The first Frozen Fenway between Boston University and Boston College was an event. It drew 40,000 fans, more than the Bruins - Flyers NHL outdoor game a week earlier.

Since then, attendance has waned considerably.

With the novelty gone, is there any reason to continue playing outdoor games at Fenway Park, which have very poor sight lines for hockey and is not a comfortable place to watch a baseball game in the summer?

 

[northeastern]

Like Bertagna said on NESN.. long as it draws & sells the tix. The wknd NU played.. gms combined.. they sold, gave away, corporate, alumni etc approx 16500 tix for that day. I did not see as many fans there of course.. but that's what the Red Sox sold & long as it makes business sense in a otherwise dead facility in winter.. they will do it.

They've already got some of the local high schools, some preps involved. Heck they even had some of the Mayor's Cup youth hockey games there.. nxt stop.. squirt & peewee gms. Long as the folks can move the tix.. they will do it. Be glad your school/s were among the first to participate as.. as a novelty.. first time does best.

 

[NUHusky1974]

Re: Frozen Fenways - jumped the shark?

Brutal. Get rid of it. It was a ghost town at Fenway. Can't be a great experience anymore for the players. At least host it when students are around. Maybe that would help.

 

[Split-N]

Re: Frozen Fenways - jumped the shark?

The first Frozen Fenway between Boston University and Boston College was an event...With the novelty gone, is there any reason to continue playing outdoor games at Fenway Park, which have very poor sight lines for hockey and is not a comfortable place to watch a baseball game in the summer?

This pretty much sums up my own feelings. Went to the first one NU played in (vs BC). Big crowd (~30K), a good game, froze my tail off, but a totally different hockey experience. Went again in 2014. Mediocre crowd (~20K), got rained on, not much of an experience. Passed up the chance to go this year.

There aren't many good sight lines in a baseball venue. With the rink laid out across the infield from 1st to 3rd base, the only people who get to actually see the game are those sitting up high on either end of the infield. Monster seats give you a nice view of the rink but the players look like ants from that distance. I don't recommend buying seats behind home plate.

I can see why people who haven't been involved with something like this are willing to shell out cash to try something new but the number of folks in that category gets smaller by the year. For the rest of us: Been there done that got the tee shirt. Now what's next?

There may or may not be more of these in the future. It all depends on whether or not the Fenway Sports Group thinks the time, effort, and costs of keeping the lights on pays dividends in the form of revenue and corporate goodwill.