New Orleans (AFP) – The NFL will play its first regular-season game in Ireland during the 2025 season, the league announced on Friday, with Dublin’s Croke Park to be the site of the contest. The Pittsburgh Steelers will serve as the designated team for the historic game, with Steelers president Art Rooney II and his family having connections with Ireland’s County Down. Rooney’s father, the late Dan Rooney, served as US ambassador to Ireland from 2009-2012. The Steelers also played a 1997 pre-season game against the Chicago Bears at Croke Park.
“We’re delighted to officially bring a regular-season NFL game to Ireland as part of our 2025 International Games slate,” NFL executive vice president of international, league events and club business Peter O’Reilly said. “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.”
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The Steelers, whose only international regular-season game was in 2013 at London’s Wembley Stadium, are set to play in one of seven global NFL contests in the 2025 campaign, with exact dates not certain until the league schedule is released later this year. The NFL announced this week that the Los Angeles Rams will play in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia in the 2025 season, the contest to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The NFL will play two regular-season games next season in London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium featuring the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns as designated teams while the Jacksonville Jaguars will play a home game at Wembley Stadium. The NFL will host a regular-season game at Berlin, Germany, in Olympic Stadium with the Indianapolis Colts as the designated team and another game at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium with the Miami Dolphins as the featured team in the Spain game.
In all, the NFL has played 55 regular-season NFL games worldwide with London, Munich, Frankfurt, São Paulo, Mexico City, and Toronto all hosting games. “We’re very excited to be the designated team in the first regular-season game to be played in Ireland this upcoming season,” said Steelers president Rooney. “The opportunity for the Pittsburgh Steelers to play in Ireland is truly special, not only because of the Rooney family history there, but also to play in front of the growing number of Steelers fans in Ireland. We’re thrilled to be part of this historic event to represent Pittsburgh in a game that brings the NFL to the great sports fans in Ireland.”
© 2024 AFP
