The announcement that Notre Dame accepted a bid for the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in New York's Yankee Stadium thrilled Irish fans from the Big Apple but left others comparing the bowl to last year's BCS National Championship at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
"From what I understand, the Pinstripe Bowl is a relatively new thing," junior Chris Tricarico said. "Obviously, you want the BCS National Championship, but I feel like it's a pretty prestigious bowl game."
Sophomore Heather Fredrickson said she had made plans to visit New York before the bowl announcement was made Saturday. She said she was "stoked" to have the opportunity to go to the game.
"Compared to last year, it's not the same, but it's a bowl game and I think it's definitely where we are," Fredrickson said. "Definitely colder, but it will also be a good experience."
Sophomore Brian Miller said the bowl's lack of prominence factored into his decision to stay home in Chicago for the game. He said he would have considered going to the bowl "if it were a more important game."
"I don't think it's a humongous deal for Notre Dame," Miller said. "Probably for other schools, but for a school with expectations like we have, it's not as big of a deal."
Tricarico, a Long Island native, said he plans to go to the game because he can travel to Yankee Stadium in a little more than an hour.
"It's super easy," he said. "It's so close to me that I couldn't just not go. Honestly, if it were anywhere else, I probably wouldn't have gone, but now this is giving me an opportunity to see it firsthand."
Sophomore Jack Szigety said he looks forward to incorporating his hometown of Ridgewood, N. J., into his game day experience and welcoming his Notre Dame friends into a part of his life they have never seen before.
"The Pinstripe Bowl has provided the opportunity for myself and others from the New York metropolitan area the chance to be at home and close enough to a Notre Dame game, which is something that the students from Chicago get all the time," Szigety said.
"Another great thing is that I have a lot of New York pride and I love the city and the area that I'm from, and the Pinstripe Bowl has given me a chance to both attend and watch a football game as well as entertain my friends who are from different areas who are going to come," he said. "So I get to show a piece of me off to people who normally wouldn't have the opportunity to see where I'm from."
The president of the Notre Dame Club of Long Island, John Pennacchio, said the presidents of all the Notre Dame clubs in his region, which includes the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, found out during a previously scheduled regional meeting that Notre Dame accepted the bid. He said they began making plans during the meeting.
"We want to show we're very supportive of Notre Dame out here," Pennacchio said. "We have a big alumni base out here so we're very excited, and we want to do as much as we can to welcome Irish fans from across the country to this national game. We want to show the rest of the country that New York is a big Irish supporter."
Andrew Wilson, president of the Notre Dame Club of New York City, said his club was "happy" to welcome Notre Dame back to Yankee Stadium four years after their 2010 matchup with Army.
"The Notre Dame Club of New York is excited to be the host Club for the 2013 Pinstripe Bowl," Wilson said. "New York City is an amazing place, especially, I think, during the holidays.
"Even if the temperature is not traditional bowl weather, thousands of alumni and subway alumni in the New York City area are ready to hear the greatest of all university fight songs in the city soon."
Tricarico said Yankee Stadium would add a special significance to the game.
"I've been a Yankee fan my whole life, so just being in the stadium is going to be an awesome experience," he said.
Sophomore James Elliott said the bowl would be a departure from what he normally sees at Yankee Sstadium.
"I'm pretty glad it's at Yankee Stadium," Elliott said. "I've been there a lot, and it's kind of cool because I've never been there for anything but baseball before."
Students can purchase one or two tickets for $50 each through their student ticket accounts until Wednesday, John Breeden, ticketing associate director in the Athletics Department, said. He said the Athletics Department would not organize a ticket lottery this year.
"We feel we have enough supply this year to meet demand," Breeden said. "This is not always the case. We're confident we can meet any student demands as long as [their tickets] are ordered by Wednesday."
Contact Lesley Stevenson at lsteven1@nd.edu
