Croke Park NFL game: Dublin regular-season game will be 'great celebration' - Goodell
2025-02-07
Category: sports

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says Dublin's hosting of a regular-season NFL contest involving the Pittsburgh Steelers later this year will be a "great celebration".The widely-anticipated news of the Croke Park contest was confirmed on Friday in advance of Sunday's Super Bowl in New Orleans.The Steelers' legendary owner Dan Rooney, who died in 2017, had lifelong connections with Ireland and was US Ambassador to Ireland from 2009 and 2012."We're really excited. It's a great market for us," said the NFL commissioner."Obviously there's a great connection in the United States with Ireland. The Pittsburgh Steelers have a specific connection also through their [Rooney] family."Goodell added that the NFL receives "a tremendous amount of media coverage [in Ireland], but we spend a lot of time on a year-round basis promoting the game and getting kids playing, whether it's flag football or tackle football"."All of that is part of our efforts to make our game more popular there and this game is sort of the spark and gives that a greater interest," he added.
'Lot of hits and lots of sacks'
Steelers players Larry Ogunjobi and Cameron Heyward both spoke of their excitement at the news."I don't know a lot about Ireland but Mr Rooney was ambassador to Ireland so it's going to be cool to see that transpire and they have a lot of fans there," said defensive lineman Heyward. Defensive tackle Ogunjobi added: "When I visited Mexico last year, I got to know just how important the fan base is and how important it is for us to show our face in their country and show them that we support them as much as they support us."Heyward said the spectators can look forward to "lots of hits, a lot of sacks and a lot of turnovers and splash plays".Pittsburgh played at Croke Park in 1997 in a pre-season game against Chicago Bears and there have been College Football games in Dublin.However, the arrival of a regular-season NFL contest at the 82,000 capacity venue will be a coup for the stadium's owners, the Gaelic Athletic Association.