'The last thing we want is for anything to get stale': Holy Cross presses pause on football at Polar Park - for now

Polar Park home game takes a rest

Holy Cross’ 2024 schedule does not include a game at Polar Park. The Crusaders played the EBW Classic at the home of the Worcester Red Sox each of the last three seasons.

“It’s not a stop,” Holy Cross vice president for intercollegiate athletics Kit Hughes said, “just a pause. In the long-range plan, we see this (game) as something we bring to the city on a long-term basis.”

HC played the first football game at Polar Park on Oct. 23, 2021, and defeated Colgate before a sold-out crowd of 9,508 fans. The next year, the Crusaders played Bucknell on the transformed diamond and Harvard there last season.

“Coming out of the last game, we had a conversation with the folks at Polar Park and the WooSox as we always do,” Hughes said, “and I think we were all thinking the same thing, that the last thing we want is for anything to get stale. In the big picture, we all see this as something that is going to continue, and we were all eager to do that when we met. Everyone seemed to be on the same page.”

The HC men’s hockey team will play Quinnipiac at the DCU Center on Nov. 2, and Hughes is hopeful the college’s other athletic teams will have similar opportunities.

“(The pause in the Polar Park football game) ties into our efforts to diversify a little bit in terms of getting into the city and other venues that could host a variety of our teams,” Hughes said. “Football is going back to Polar Park sometime, and it’s going to be a great thing. We’re excited to do that.”

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'The last thing we want is for anything to get stale': Holy Cross presses pause on football at Polar Park - for now