Notre Dame football: 10 future Shamrock Series suggestions
I just got done watching the Cubs obliterate the lowly Cardinals in London this blistering hot Saturday afternoon and it got me thinking about netural site games. Of course in doing so I applied it to Notre Dame football and started thinking about possible locations for future Shamrock Series games.
Not that my opinion matters, but I’ve always thought college football was best when played on an actual college campus. That said, I’m aware of my surroundings and that neutral site games will likely only grow in the future compared to on-campus, non-conference showdowns.
But let’s cut to the chase and get to the list. Here are 10 venues for future Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua to consider as potential Shamrock Series venues.
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium - Annapolis, MD
Alright, the first two wouldn’t be true neutral site games on this list but who cares? Notre Dame has played Navy forever and has verbally said that won’t stop. Instead of playing in another run-of-the-mill east coast NFL venue, would that much money be lost if it were to be played on Navy’s historic campus just once?
Michie Stadium - West Point, NY
The same goes for Army as does Navy. Sure, Army hasn’t been on the schedule nearly as often but the history in this series is deep. I get that the Cadets would serve as the home team in Yankee Stadium during those historic match-ups between programs but the same goes here – could Notre Dame make the trip just once? The views would certainly be like almost no other in college football.
NRG Stadium - Houston, TX
It’s not the most historic venue on earth like some of the others on the list but if you’re looking to grow recruiting in the state of Texas then it makes all the sense in the world. Houston is an area that is truly loaded with talent although NRG Stadium doesn’t come with the same kind of history as Dodger Stadium for instance, it has hosted a pair of Super Bowls and a number of Final Fours.
Guaranteed Rate Field - Chicago, IL
Notre Dame fans are spread out across the nation unlike any program but if they have a home base it’d be Chicago. Northwestern might market themselves as “Chicago’s Big Ten Team” (even though they play in Evanston) but Notre Dame is Chicago’s college football team.
Nowhere is that fan base stronger than on Chicago’s south side. Between the “South Side Irish” and the Chicago Catholic League with the likes of Mt. Carmel, St. Rita, St. Ignatius, and so many other prestigious high schools, the connection to Chicago’s south side is an obvious one. A game at the home of the White Sox would be even more of a home game than those at Soldier Field (where Notre Dame has never lost).
Wrigley Field - Chicago, IL
Like I said about Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago is Notre Dame’s closest thing to a major city home base for fans. It wouldn’t necissarily add to a recruiting base and the Wrigleyville neighborhood isn’t near the same connection to Notre Dame as Chicago’s south side is, but when you’ve played in Yankee Stadium (old and new) and Fenway Park already, isn’t Wrigley next on that list?
Mercedes Benz Stadium - Atlanta, GA
Notre Dame was supposed to play in this venue back in 2020 but the pandemic had other plans. Like I already said about Texas, I’m a big fan of going to where the talent is. Atlanta is obviously another hotbed and is the unofficial home of SEC football. Georgia Tech sure is heck isn’t making a recent indent on that town so why not at least make somewhat of a presence if you’re Notre Dame?
Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
This won’t be the only potential trip to Los Angeles on the list but for good reason. Notre Dame already travels to LA every other year to take on USC, but taking over Dodger Stadium would not only be a jab at the Trojans in their hometown, but it’d give Notre Dame a home game in the heart of one of the biggest recruiting hotbeds in the nation.
Also, as much better as football is on a college campus, you can’t argue with the attention it brings when it’s played in a non-traditional football venue. That’s part of the reason for the significant amount of baseball parks on this list.
SoFi Stadium - Inglewood, CA
One of the most state-of-the-art stadiums in the NFL is one that Notre Dame hasn’t played in to date. It’s a marquee football venue and just happens to be in the home city of Notre Dame’s biggest rival. The same recruiting hotbed exists here as it does for Dodger Stadium, too.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards - Baltimore, MD
Notre Dame’s connections to Baltimore aren’t like they are to Chicago but if I’m adding Wrigley Field to the list essentially because it’s a baseball cathedral then I kind of have to have Camden Yards on here. Sure, AT&T Park and PNC Park then come into the discussion but when Camden Yards opened in 1992 it set the standard for the retro style ballpark that nearly every team went with in the following decades.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Speedway, IN
Do you want to get creative and set a record in the process?
No sporting event attracts a bigger crowd than the Indianapolis 500 which draws over 300,000 fans each Memorial Day weekend. The venue is clearly massive (2.5 miles around for those who don’t watch racing) and a football field wouldn’t fit as nicely as it did when Tennessee played Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway a few years ago but this would be incredible. A few ideas here:
Build a special football field on the front stretch to take advantage of the most possible seating that is already in place. I don’t care about the logistics of putting grass on asphalt or the fact the pit wall is there – just have people smarter than me figure it out and get it done.
Have Indiana’s own Tony Stewart (two-time Brickyard 400 winner and three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion) serve as an honorary captain.
Play against a Big Ten team with a massive following who would only help drive the hype.
Make tickets something insanely cheap for face value so that even if you can’t see particularly great, it’d be attractive to a massive audience.
Have NBC Sports promote the living daylights out of it since it’d feature a handful of their biggest properties: Notre Dame and Big Ten football, Indy 500, and NASCAR.
Oh, then douse Marcus Freeman with milk after a Notre Dame victory and have the team kiss the yard of bricks after singing the alma mater for good measure.
