The Secretaries’ Cup seeks neutral sites in mid-sized Northeast cities like Worcester, Hartford, New Haven, Newark, and Pawtucket to grow its profile.
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The Secretaries' Cup between the Coast Guard Academy and Merchant Marine Academy will take place at a neutral site for the second time ever and the second time in as many years. After last year's spectacle at Fenway, the game travels to Washington, D.C. this season. The move represents a continued effort to minimize the shadow the Army-Navy Game casts upon the Secretaries’ Cup. Luckily for the Secretaries Cup, plenty of sizable cities are valid candidates for the underrated Service Academy rivalry.
This is a city that I have previously vouched for to host the Secretaries Cup. Worcester, MA is the largest city in Central Massachusetts with a population of 206,518 and no major sporting events during the Fall outside of Holy Cross home games and the third-tier East Coast Hockey League Worcester Railers.
The city tried its hand at a downtown "bowl game" of sorts at Polar Park, the home of the AAA Worcester Red Sox. At around 9,500 seats, the venue is an ideal home and in the heart of downtown. The novelty of a game at essentially a “reverse Fenway Park replica” (the park’s version of the Green Monster is in right field, rather than left) would attract fans outside both schools. Furthermore, the city is 72 miles from the Coast Guard Academy and 174 miles from the Merchant Marine Academy.
The Hartford region boasts over one million residents and has two stadiums suitable for hosting the Secretaries Cup. Historic Trinity Health Stadium hosts the United Soccer League's Hartford Athletic and seats 10,000, while UConn's Pratt-Whitney Stadium seats 40,000. Despite the large population of the Hartford area, the sports scene is not crowded in the Fall, with UConn and the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolf Pack being the only competition.
Hartford is only 115 miles from the Merchant Marine Academy and 50 miles from the Coast Guard Academy. The game also has an opportunity to attract fans from the New York City commuter cities of Bridgeport, Stamford, and New Haven.
Speaking of New Haven, a Secretaries' Cup at the Yale Bowl would be quite the homage to one of America's most respected stadiums. The venue has a proud history of hosting Service Academies, hosting all three Service Academies a combined seven times.
The New Haven area has nearly 600,000 residents and is within 100 miles of both Academies. Furthermore, the city is even more connected to the New York City area through its numerous MTA lines. The city has the least competition of any city so far. The New Haven sports scene only has sparsely attended Yale games and the Elm City Express of the low-tier National Professional Soccer League.
The 2023 Brick City Classic was a novel concept. The matchup between Hampton and Grambling sought to give the Newark area a true flagship college football event. Unfortunately, only 7,500 fans attended the 2023 game, and the 2024 matchup between Morgan State and Hampton moved to Hampton's Armstrong Stadium. Nevertheless, a Secretaries Cup at Red Bull Arena could perform well with the Merchant Marine Academy 36 miles from Harrison, NJ, and 150 miles from the Coast Guard Academy.
Additionally, the game will not have the competition that caused the Brick City Classic to struggle. The Brick City Classic competed with the HBCU NY Classic at nearby MetLife Stadium for the crown of New York City's HBCU Classic. In theory, the only competition for the Secretaries Cup would be in a year when MetLife Stadium hosts Army-Navy. Even then, the game would be an effective substitute for fans priced out of the Army-Navy Game's famously exorbitant ticket prices.
Pawtucket’s Centreville Bank Stadium is quickly becoming an epicenter of New England football. The stadium will host Rhode Island home games this year and Brown’s home game against Harvard. This comes after the venue hosted the state’s flagship event, the Governor’s Cup between Brown and Rhode Island. The venue can further establish itself by hosting the Secretaries’ Cup.
The Rhode Island sports scene is barren in the Fall. The AHL Providence Bruins and USL’s Rhode Island FC are the only remnants in the state after the heartbreaking loss of the Pawtucket Red Sox. The Providence metro area has over one million residents and is greatly connected to the Boston area by rail. As with the others, Pawtucket is near both academies, being 185 miles from the Merchant Marine Academy and 61 miles from the Coast Guard Academy.
The Secretaries' Cup appears to finally have achieved the status of a landmark event in the northeastern athletics scene. Multiple mid-sized cities in the region could benefit from the small surge in tourism the game would bring. The Coast Guard Academy and Merchant Marine Academy would be wise to take advantage of this and continue raising the rivalry's profile in the region.
