Today's Tidbit... Expand It and They Will Come

In the 1870s and most of the 1880s, Harvard and Yale played most games on campus before playing in New York City in 1883 and 1887 to handle large crowds. However, as they began making plans for the 1889 game, Harvard's faculty announced they could no longer play in New York City due to the commercialism inherent in playing in the city.

That meant the teams had to find a rail-friendly location with a stadium capable of handling 20,000 fans. Yale argued for Hartford, CT, between New Haven and Springfield, MA. Harvard pushed for Worchester, which sits between Boston and Springfield. As you might expect, Harvard would not accept Hartford, and Yale would not agree to Worchester, so Springfield became the compromise location.

Partial map of the Central New England Railroad routes. New Haven, at the bottom, could connect to Hartford and Springfield.