November marked the end of the cycle of the International Series for the NFL this season. A journey which brought several teams from the league back to London and Munich. And with a trip to São Paulo for the first time.
These yearly trips have become a custom to the professional game. The sport known in the US has become massive all across the world.
Ireland has hosted the Emerald Isle Classic for many years now. A College Football game that brings some of the top teams over to Lansdowne Road every year to open up the season. This year’s edition saw ESPN bring their flagship preview program ‘College Gameday’ to College Green, the first time the program had left the United States.
There is no doubt that the appetite for American Football in Ireland is at an all time high. With one team spotting this before the rest. The Pittsburgh Steelers, over the course of the past 2 years, have been increasing their relations with the Irish fanbase. First, there was a Watch Party organised and sold out in Croke Park last year, which continued this year with huge demand.
In the lead up to this season, we saw Virgin Media, the current rights holders to the London Games and the Super Bowl, strike a deal with the Steelers. Showing all of their Pre-season games on top of a weekly showing of Head Coach Mike Tomlin’s Podcast. This further elevated the interest the Steelers organisation had in coming to Croke Park.
The Steelers played the Chicago Bears in the GAA institution back in 1997. A game billed as the ‘American Bowl’, one of the many exhibition games that the NFL held outside of the US before they started their International Regular Season games in 2007. This was fueled by the Steelers late President, Dan Rooney, who was former Ambassador to Ireland.
During the build up to the Munich game earlier this month, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that he had “no doubt Dublin would stage a game in the future” as part of their plan to have a total of 8 international games in the near future.
There is little doubt now that a preseason or regular season NFL game will be held on the shores of Ireland in the next 3 years. Which is a positive for the Irish Sporting public, as well as the many American tourists it can bring over to support their beloved teams.