Syracuse vs. Notre Dame moved to Yankee Stadium for 2018

“Nothing” says college football like playing in a baseball stadium...

The 2018 matchup between the Syracuse Orange and Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be moved to Yankee Stadium, according to the Athletic’s Matt Fortuna. Originally, the teams were scheduled to play in South Bend, Ind. in September, but the date was moved to November. Now, it’ll take place at the home of the Pinstripe Bowl, where the Orange are 2-0 and the all-time champs of the postseason event.

The Notre Dame series has been among our weirdest in non-conference play. This will now be the third time we’ve played them at a neutral site, with the previous two games (both losses) taking place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The game hasn’t been played on either campus since 2008 (the surprise 24-23 win for SU under GERG).

This is also the second major update to the non-conference schedule in the last week, after the Orange’s series with the Wisconsin Badgers was cancelled. It would seem that no one wants us to play in the Midwest anymore?

ALSO also -- this is the second time in the last week SU’s thrown a wrench in my football roadtrip plans. Had been ready to go to Madison for 2020 since the game was scheduled (despite my complaints) and was going to go to ND as well. Not as anxious to go to New York a week before Thanksgiving for a game in a baseball stadium, however...

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In general, this is a strange move if only because Syracuse has been actively moving away from too much New York City-centric marketing and promotion, and it seems that we were content with Rutgers spending all of its money at Yankee Stadium now. The Scarlet Knights had been scheduled to face Maryland in the Bronx this year, before the Yankees deep postseason run forced the contest back to Piscataway.

SU also canned the MetLife deal — which admittedly is more preferable than playing at a baseball stadium. Still, would assume that the payout we’d be receiving here is geared toward a nice financial windfall to pay for whatever game we need to set up to replace Wisconsin for 2020 and 2021 now with those pickings so slim.

Happy? Sad? Don’t care? I think this is fine as long as the money’s worth it. I know season ticket holders probably feel differently (despite this one originally being scheduled as a road game).