NFL regular season fixture at Croke Park close to confirmation

Well-placed sources are encouraged that what they believe will be the biggest sports event ever to happen in Ireland is within reach.

The first-ever NFL regular season game in Ireland is close to being confirmed for Croke Park next September.

As reported by the Irish Examiner last month, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be one of the competing teams in GAA HQ pending a final decision by the new Irish government.

Outlining the benefits of hosting such an event at Croke Park, a position document has been prepared by the NFL, GAA, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for the new government to sign off on.

Well-placed sources are encouraged that what they believe will be the biggest sports event ever to happen in Ireland is within reach despite formal government negotiations only beginning on Tuesday.

Fine Gael’s manifesto cites the staging of an NFL games in Ireland as an objective. 

“Actively bid to host major international sporting events, including the Rugby World Cup, European Football Championships, NFL games, and major athletics championships. This will drive tourism, stimulate the economy, and raise Ireland’s international profile.” 

The Steelers and the GAA have strengthened their ties in the last couple of years with two watch parties staged in Croke Park and the visit of GAA president Jarlath Burns and other officials to their UPMC Rooney Sports Complex in Acrisure Stadium last March. 

In June, they staged two youth camps in Cork and Belfast.

In recent years, Dublin have hosted a number of college football games in the Aviva Stadium and two more are scheduled for 2025 and ’27. However, an NFL season game has not been arranged. In 1997, the Steelers faced the Chicago Bears in the pre-season American Bowl in Croke Park.

In August, Steelers’ owner Art Rooney II suggested Ireland could host one of the franchise’s games. They own the international rights for Ireland and Mexico via the NFL’s global markets programme.

"I think there's a good chance in the 2025 season that we'll have an international game. Of course that's up to the league, not up to us. We're kind of due for that and we are expecting it could be in Mexico or Ireland.” 

In Germany last month, NFL commissioner Roger Goddell said the organisation was looking at “the potential of a game in the UK area, in Ireland, possibly – that’s a possibility.” 

Goddell had met a GAA and Croke Park delegation at the Carolina Panthers-New York Giants game in Munch.

On Wednesday, the NFL confirmed the first game of their 2025 regular season will take place in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. It will be the fifth time such a fixture has been arranged for Germany.