Steelers Reportedly Working on Hosting Game in Shocking European Country

The NFL has been actively working with new countries to expand the international market for professional American football. The league has played a regular season game in London, England since 2007, and Germany has now been added to that list.

Read more: London Mayor Wants to Bring the NFL Super Bowl to Wembley Stadium

The NFL is also set to host its first game in São Paulo, Brazil, as Week 1 will see the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles face off in the new international territory for the league. Spain is being targeted for 2025, and now the Pittsburgh Steelers are reportedly actively working with the NFL to be the first team to host a regular season game in Ireland.

Dan Rooney, the Director of Business Development and Strategy for the Steelers, has stated that the team is hoping to return to Croke Park. The Steelers played a preseason game there in 1997, but that was the last time the NFL made an appearance in Ireland.

Rooney told BBC Sports, “It’s been a goal from the start, being able to pursue an opportunity to play a live game in front of the Irish fans. We are working with the NFL on that and we’re looking forward to seeing what’s coming.”

“We’re awaiting some of their findings and we have told them we would love to get to the island to play a game someday. It’s an exciting future ahead. It would be special no matter where we played it. Croke Park hosted it in 1997 and that is a special venue, but that’s really in the hands of the NFL,” Rooney said.

It is true that the NFL is the one who will make the decision, but Commissioner Roger Goodell has stated that international outreach for the league is one of the biggest priorities. Goodell told ESPN ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft, “I honestly think we’ll be playing 16 games internationally if you go 10 years out. I think we’ll try to get to eight or nine in the next couple of years.”

The NFL is already playing three games in London, one in Germany, and one in Brazil for the 2024 season. Though Ireland could be a few years off, it also has a real possibility of happening.

Rooney and the Steelers might be staking their claim for a game in Ireland, but it will ultimately be up to Goodell and the league to determine if the market will stretch to that part of the U.K.

Either way, with the popularity of international games leading to sold-out crowds, it would not be out of the realm of possibility that more countries will be added every season.