Dublin's Croke Park to host historic first regular-season NFL game
The National Football League will play its first-ever regular-season game in Dublin, Ireland in 2025 as the league continues to expand its global footprint and take the game to new audiences around the world.
The 2025 NFL Dublin game will take place at Croke Park -- the largest sporting arena in Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) -- in partnership with the Government of Ireland and Dublin City Council (Dublin City).
The Pittsburgh Steelers will play as the designated team for the historic first game.
Large-scale American football college games have been held in Lansdowne Road in recent years, while this will be the first time the NFL will have a game in Ireland.
Even better...there's a connection to Co Down, as Steelers president Art Rooney II and his family have family from Newry.
A statement on NFL's website reads: "We are delighted to officially bring a regular-season NFL game to Ireland as part of our 2025 International Games slate," said executive vice president of international, league events and club business at the NFL Peter O'Reilly.
"Both the NFL and the Steelers franchise have deep roots and history in Ireland, and we're looking forward to making our regular-season debut in Dublin, bringing our game to a large and passionate Irish fan base and underlining the NFL's commitment to global growth."
The news comes just in time for the biggest game of the year - the Super Bowl - this Sunday (Feb 9th) between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.
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