Harvard football is one of three remaining undefeated FCS programs after a win over Cornell. The 19th-ranked Crimson, perhaps the smartest team in the country, added another big win against the Big Red on Friday night to move to 4-0 in 2023.
It was a home game for Harvard, which are played at Harvard Stadium in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachussetts. The stadium is 120 years old.
Built in 1903, it was a pioneering execution of reinforced concrete in the construction of large structures at the time. Harvard Stadium is the oldest permanent concrete structure dedicated to college sports in the country and was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
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All of this goes to say that the Crimson’s home field is up there in age. There will not be any big changes to the college football and soccer stadium in the near future. How it was built more than a century ago is essentially the same as today, which will be the case for as long as it stands upright.
To a significant extent, playing for such a historic program at such a historic stadium is a really special experience. And it’s not like the team’s facilities have not seen a more modern upgrade.
However, there is one element to playing at Harvard Stadium that is a minor inconvenience.
Harvard’s locker room tunnel is hilariously small.
The door to go in or out of the home team’s tunnel is way too small. Players have to duck whenever they want to enter the field of play or head back into the locker room.
They look like they are going through a portal into Narnia and it always creates a traffic jam.
Friday was no different! The players had to to wait their turn to enter into the absurdly tiny door while the band took the field at halftime and it’s never not funny.
Harvard is one of the best FCS programs in the country. Watching the Crimson enter into the locker room at their 120-year-old stadium is comical!