Let Them Play Here

With prospects for a new stadium still remote, the Boston Patriots continue to be confined in the inadequate facilities of Fenway Park.

Of the 37,000 seats at Fenway, about half of them have unobstructed views. In contrast, Harvard Stadium can provide good seats for more than 45,000 when auxiliary bleachers are installed.

If Harvard changed its present policy and leased the Stadium, everyone would gain: the private organization, the University, and the community. The Patriots, without an acceptable stadium, might sell out to other cities. There have been several offers made recently. Harvard could collect about $200,000 per year, plus improvements on the Stadium. For Boston, professional football is both an economic boon and a promoter. Cities scrape for a franchise during a league expansion.

The Sunday afternoon Patriots games would in no way professionalize Harvard sports. The Patriots would not play or practice against the Harvard team, nor would they use Soldiers Field except for games. It is a matter of allowing someone else to use the Stadium when Harvard is not there. Still, the Stadium would be used no more than 20 times a year.

There are people who say that Harvard should not stoop to commercial levels. That is a bit unrealistic and pretentious. How much money, for example, did Harvard pocket from the Dartmouth game? Funds from athletic contests go back into the University, though not into the athletic program.

Arguments of inconvenience hardly outweigh the advantages for Harvard. Although parking space is limited, it should be adequate. Instead of people who drive in from the suburbs to Harvard games, there will be people who take buses or the MBTA in from town. Also, a section of the Business School lot might be roped off for parking, though it is hardly necessary to pave the grass by the Charles. When the Patrots played an exhibition game at Harvard several years ago, parking was not an overwhelming problem. Sundays help.

Traffic will tie up temporarily late Sunday afternoons, but there should be no unmanageable jams on this side of the river until the Kennedy Library Complex is completed in the 1970's. By that time, the Patriots will have left Harvard Stadium for a new stadium or a new city.

When football games are played on successive days, the team playing Sunday must run on ruffled turf.

The Patriots would also have to make permanent improvements in order to handle extensive television and press. Harvard's press box, now in unbelievable decay, needs much capital improvement.

Above all, professional football just across the river would suit us fans perfectly.