NFL to install seats in Hill 16 for historic Croker clash
General Manager NFL UK and Ireland Henry Hodgson at Dublin Castle where it was announced that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be taking on the Minnesota Vikings on September 28 in Croke Park Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Croke Park will open its doors on the last Sunday of September, the 28th, to two teams who made the NFL playoffs last year in what will be the most anticipated match-up of the NFL’s European slate, which was announced in Dublin Castle yesterday.
The presence of American football in Croke Park also brings with it a change to the terraces, as the NFL have confirmed that seats will be put into the Hill 16 end. The league have also said that the game will be priced similarly to its Tottenham games, where tickets usually start at around €80.
For Ireland, the smallest market to ever host an NFL international game, it is a return on the €10m in State investment that has gone into this event, with a large contingent of travelling fans anticipated to boost the tourism sector.
For the GAA and Croke Park, it is something to build for in a September period that is quieter in recent years, with the NFL confirming that around 76,000 tickets are expected to be sold in headquarters.
For the Vikings, it’s a nice competitive boost as they take tough trips to Pittsburgh and Cleveland off their calendar. Minnesota will face the Steelers in Dublin a week before battling the Browns in Tottenham, the first team to play two away fixtures in a row outside the United States. It’s a wily move their Norse namesakes would be proud of - one that keeps them away from tough match-ups in America’s cold rust belt and instead lets them press the flesh with fans in Europe.
And for Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, it represents a bit of a homecoming.
“My family are very excited. I can not wait to connect with my Irish heritage. I’ve never actually been before, and who knew it would come in the form of bringing my football team over,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell is one of the most highly-rated coaches in the league, leading the Vikings to a 14-3 season last year. And you can tell he believes in the opportunity these international games can bring his team as he avoided a much-used cliché thrown about by NFL coaches who come to Europe - that it’s ‘just another game’.
“It would be very easy to say ‘hey it’s just another game’ but it would be short-sighted as a coach not to learn about and engage in the history, and what makes Croke Park special,” O’Connell said.
“When you think about opportunities to play in unique atmospheres and environments, what better way to do that than to play in Dublin. That is a big deal to us. And the two-game trip gives us an unbelievable opportunity to take our team on the road, get away from the day to day things that pull the players in any other direction.”
The importance of winning a regular-season game is difficult to overstate. Unlike a 38-game Premier League season, NFL teams have just 17 on their schedule, and momentum counts in a league designed to bring parity to all 32 franchises.
And O’Connell is under no illusions that the Steelers, led by Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Tomlin, will be a tough challenge wherever they face off.
“The Steelers are a historical franchise with great leadership. In a season where we play 17 games each and every one of them matter.
“But we do have some star power in Justin Jefferson, the best wide receiver on the planet, but he’s going to have to deal with a team that are always very physical, where for four quarters you’re going to have to fight for every inch of that football,” O’Connell added.
The presence of the NFL will be hard to ignore in late September, as the game brings with it a large commitment to fan events, pageantry and the colour that aims to turn a match into a mardi gras. And the game’s organisers have seen a surprisingly high level of demand for the Dublin game.
“What we’re seeing so far is a huge demand for this game in terms of tickets. The registry of interest that we launched back in February is considerably higher than the other countries that we launched them in,” Henry Hodgson, NFL UK and Ireland General Manager, said.
“The make up of that registry of interest is about a third from the US, a third from Ireland and a third from the UK and Europe.
“Typically you would see a much larger proportion from the home country, and I think that speaks to the Steelers being a fantastic travelling fan base –that’s true everywhere in America – but I think it’s the desire people have from around the world to come to Dublin to experience a sports event here.”