McKenna optimistic Croker will host NFL game next year

The GAA’s stadium and commercial director Peter McKenna remains optimistic about Croke Park staging an NFL regular season game next year.

“We are, indeed,” said McKenna. “The reaction to our bid document was positive. They’ve (the NFL) taken the view that in 2012 there will be one game in Wembley. We still see ourselves as being under consideration for 2013.”

The St Louis Rams and the New England Patriots will play a regular season fixture in London on October 28. Croke Park, along with Edinburgh’s Murrayfield, Munich’s Olympic Stadium and Frankfurt’s Commerzbank-Arena, has submitted a bid to hold a game next year.

Meanwhile, McKenna said there is no deadline for county boards to improve the reduced capacities of their principal grounds. A number of counties are undertaking work based on the recommendations of the Slattery Report delivered before Christmas.

The stadium audit advised decreased capacities at the majority of venues because of a number of health and safety concerns such as the number of crash barriers on terraces as well as entrance and exit gates and turnstiles.

Last week, Meath reported they had followed the advice set out by Slattery and increased Páirc Tailteann’s capacity to 18,000 after it had previously been halved to 10,000 in the report.

McKenna said: “It’s an ongoing process. We’re not waiting on a particular date.”