There was a lot of snickering among college football insiders when it was announced Yankee Stadium was going to play host to a bowl game — in December no less.
But three years after the inaugural game, with attendance averaging just fewer than 40,000 fans per game, the Pinstripe Bowl is no laughing matter. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Yankee Stadium could host the Football Subdivision national championship semifinal down the road.
“Not yet,’’ Yankees president Randy Levine said yesterday at the news conference announcing the ACC would provide a team to face a Big Ten opponent starting in 2014.
“We’ve taken a step up, we believe, with the Big Ten and the ACC, and we believe after performing for a couple of more years we’ll be as good as any venue there is to host a semifinal or eventually even a championship game.’’
Playing host to the title game probably isn’t a possibility. That has been the domain of larger dome stadiums.
But once the NFL awarded the 2014 Super Bowl to MetLife Stadium, the stigma against playing championship football in the Northeast was removed. The sites for the semifinal games have been determined through 2025, but by then the Pinstripe Bowl could raise its profile enough to be in consideration.