Baseball's Boston Red Sox keen on Old Firm friendly

Celtic and Rangers could lock horns in Boston in the summer

The historic stadium of baseball's Boston Red Sox could play host to a friendly between Celtic and Rangers.

Both Old Firm clubs have pencilled in pre-season tours of North America in the summer.

And Red Sox chief operating officer Sam Kennedy is in talks with a promotions company to play the game at the 37,402-capacity Fenway Park.

"We don't have anything confirmed but it's something we're trying to put together for July 21," he said.

Celtic are tentatively scheduled to play Manchester United in Toronto in July, while Rangers are believed to be arranging games in Miami and New York.

While neither club has commented officially on the proposed friendly, Kennedy said he hoped to make a formal announcement within the next two weeks.

We're humbled that they would consider doing it in America and we would be honoured to host it Red Sox chief operating officer Sam Kennedy

"We're aggressively pursuing the match," Kennedy said.

"We recognise it's a very special match between two very historic teams and the thought is that a very historic venue like Fenway Park would be appropriate to host that rivalry.

"We're hopeful that we can make it a reality."

Kennedy is holding talks with promotions company Creative Artists Agency (CAA) over the proposed friendly.

"We are hoping to finalise a deal with CAA because there are offers from other places that they could play this first game between them off Scottish soil," he added.

"So we're humbled that they would consider doing it in America and we would be honoured to host it.

"We've had lots of great rivalries with the Red Sox and the New York Yankees, we've had the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins play an NHL game here this winter and a great college rivalry between Boston University and Boston College.

"So, the concept of a great rivalry in a sport that's not normally played at Fenway is attractive to us."

A similar proposal was mooted six years ago, with Australia as the host country, but the match never materialised.

Earlier this week, the general secretary of the Rangers Supporters' Association John McMillan told BBC Scotland that an Old Firm game played in Boston or elsewhere in the USA in the summer would be "quite a spectacle".