Harvard, Minutemen Disagree

As of last night, the Boston Minutemen of the North American Soccer League were without a home field. The Minutemen are scheduled to play eight games in Harvard Stadium, but yesterday the University announced that the club "will not be playing" its home-opener here this Saturday.

"Discussions between Harvard and the Minutemen have taken place over the past four months," Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, said in a statement released yesterday, "but a contract for use of the stadium was not signed. The Minutemen have known since early January that there would be no contract unless the Minutemen provided security for performance of their obligations, and the Minutemen have failed to provide security."

Michael Bosson, assistant to the president of the Minutemen, said yesterday that the talks are still continuing and that he hoped the statement could be retracted this morning, allowing the game to be played as scheduled. He added that the whole thing "came a little bit out of nowhere.

Steiner's statement, however, claims that during negotiations the University had repeatedly warned that there would be no Minutemen games at the stadium unless the security were provided.

"Harvard was willing to provide a place for the Minutemen to play, but was unwilling to risk the expenditure of any money intended for educational purposes," Steiner said.