VIDEO: American College football’s Croke Park Classic is more than just a game

With just over three weeks to the Croke Park Classic, a programme of events around the American College football game between Penn State and the University of Central Florida (UCF) has been announced.

The game will be played on Saturday 30th August and with over 20,000 overseas tourists expected for the game, the majority travelling from North America, the economy is set to benefit to the tune of an estimated €30 million from the event.

"It's a wonderful platform to showcase what Ireland has to offer to the many tourists who are over for the game and all those watching on television around the world."

Croke Park Stadium Director, Peter McKenna said the stadium had made a substantial investment to bring this event to the city and establish Dublin as the European Home of American College Football and we're delighted to announce details of a series of events taking place in the run up to the game.

These will include the American Ireland Business Forum, The UNESCO Symposium on Youth Civil Engagement and Leadership through Sport, the GIFT high school games in UCD and a host of cross cultural and entertainment events in the Croke Park Classic Fanzone in Temple Bar.

Temple Bar will become a Croke Park Classic fanzone over the weekend from Thursday August 28th to Sunday August 31st providing travelling fans and locals with an area to mix and mingle and get behind their chosen teams.

Both teams Pep Rallies will be hosted there on Friday 29th and the pre-game Tailgate Party will also take place here on the morning of Saturday 30th.

Dublin Bus will offer a complimentary shuttle services from Temple Bar to Croke Park to take fans from the Tailgate to the game.

The Croke Park Classic game spectacle will be a full days entertainment for all the family featuring parachute jumps, the Penn State marching band, Extreme Rhythm, The Dublin Gospel Choir, cheerleaders, team mascots and the Super 11's.

Tickets including a special August Family Ticket Offer are still available for the event.

UCF and Penn State will be playing for the Dan Rooney Trophy.

Meanwhile, American Football is set to dominate the Irish sports calendar this August with the Irish American Football Association's 'Shamrock Bowl' between Trinity College Dublin and Belfast Trojans in Tallaght Stadium this Sunday 10th August.

Tickets for the Croke Park Classic are on sale though ticketmaster.ie and tickets.ie.

For further information visit crokeparkclassic.ie