‘Six or Seven’ Shuttles: Harvard Announces Limited Transportation to Harvard-Yale, Official Tailgate at Fenway

Harvard will run only “six or seven” shuttle buses to Fenway Park for this year’s Harvard-Yale Game and the College’s official tailgate will take place inside the ballpark, Associate Dean for Student Engagement Jason R. Meier said.

Six weeks out from the 142nd playing of The Game on Nov. 21, the Dean of Students Office has largely settled its plans for the day, steering students toward the MBTA and shifting money from transportation to events at Fenway and on campus during the week before kickoff.

Fenway Park Events announced in August 2025 that this year’s home matchup would move from Harvard Stadium in Allston to Fenway. It will be only the second time that the ballpark hosted The Game. The first was in 2018, when restoration work at Harvard Stadium moved the matchup to the ballpark.

Because of the ballpark’s location, the College will not host any official tailgates outside Fenway or in Cambridge, Meier said in a Monday interview with The Crimson.

“You can’t tailgate at Fenway,” Meier said. “There’s nowhere to do it. So really, our only option is inside.”

Instead, the College plans to let undergraduates into the stadium at 1 p.m., an hour and a half before the general public, to explore the concourse, take photos on the field and Green Monster, and enjoy complimentary refreshments. The College will also serve alcohol to students 21 and older, in compliance with state law.

Dean of Students Thomas G. Dunne said the College wants to use The Game’s location to draw students to Boston before kickoff.

“Everybody I’ve talked to is being very focused and intentional about pre-game activities at or near Fenway,” Dunne said.

The plan marks a departure from 2018, when the DSO held its tailgate at the then-Science Center Plaza after hundreds of students petitioned to hold it at the Athletics Complex instead of the proposed location near Fenway.

“A concern last time this happened was there were tailgates here, but then people were trying to load onto buses and get to Fenway,” he said. “It wasn’t cohesive.”

This time, Dunne said, the DSO is moving funding away from transportation and towards activities at Fenway and in the week leading up to The Game.

“I hope that on Friday night things are really active here on campus here in Cambridge, and then the energy moves to Boston and Fenway on Saturday, more mid-morning to up to the game,” Dunne said.

Harvard’s shuttles will loop between campus and the stadium, Meier said. Most students will be pointed to the T.

“We’re working with the MBTA to open up one gate for Harvard and Yale students to have easy access to the trains, as well as get additional trains going,” Meier said. “We really want to save the shuttles for students with accessibility needs who really rely on that.”

In the days before The Game, organizers plan to use the Student Activities Fee pool, which has doubled in size, to build on past Harvard-Yale programming.

“We’re trying to continue that in terms of the swag, the giveaways, the installations,” Meier said in an April interview with The Crimson. “We had Dunks, we had the donut truck, we had so much food, so recreating that, and live entertainment and bands.”

Harvard Athletics began messaging season ticket holders about Harvard-Yale tickets in April, and tickets went on sale to the general public on May 27. Fenway is handling ticket sales, while Harvard will again distribute free physical tickets to students at a location on campus. Yale will sell its tickets online, offering its undergraduates 2,900 tickets, the same number as in past years.

The move from Allston to Fenway Park has drawn mixed reactions among alumni, many of whom view Harvard Stadium as an essential part of The Game’s identity.

Senior Associate Director of Athletics Nick Majocha said Harvard Athletics does not plan to treat Fenway as a stand-in for Harvard Stadium.

“I don’t think our goal is to take the experience at Harvard Stadium and just replicate it at Fenway Park,” Majocha said. “It is a different venue. It’s in a different place in the city. It has a different tradition to it.”

Meier said he hopes Harvard will eventually rotate between Fenway and Harvard Stadium.

“If things go well, we’re setting a stage where every student will have a Harvard Stadium Harvard-Yale and a Fenway Harvard-Yale,” Meier said. “Anyone in their four years will have both experiences.”

After The Game, Dunne said, the College will gather student feedback and share it with the Athletics Department, which will decide whether to bring The Game back to Fenway.

“What I’d like us to focus on after is to get a lot of student feedback in very intentional ways that lets us know what was the experience. ‘What worked well?’ ‘What did you find challenging?’” he said.

Harvard has not beaten Yale since 2021, dropping the last four editions of The Game. The last time The Game was played at Fenway. In 2018, Harvard won 45-27.

—Staff writer Julia A. Karabolli can be reached at [email protected].

—Staff writer Wyeth Renwick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @wzrenwick.

—Staff writer Claire L. Simon can be reached at [email protected] and Signal at csimon.13. Follow her on X @ClaireSimon.

—Staff writer Tanya J. Vidhun can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @tanyavidhun.