PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – What the NFL really sold about why the Steelers are the team to play the first regular-season game in Ireland is the ‘authentic heritage’ of the Rooney family.
“Growing up around my grandfather and my father, one of the lessons they always taught us is our strong connection to Ireland and how meaningful the island is to our family,” said Dan Rooney, great-grandson of the Steelers founder and currently the team’s director of business development and strategy.
The Rooney family immigrated to Pittsburgh in the 1800’s. Late Steelers President Dan Rooney was the Ambassador to Ireland from 2009-12 and really tried to grow the game of football with Irish fans. So much so, Rooney said his grandfather flipped an Irish tradition of playing a baseball game on the Fourth of July to playing flag football.
Rooney said they’ve worked with Irish officials and the NFL over the last couple of years to help grow the game in Ireland. That includes bringing former players over to run camps. They held a watch party each of the last two seasons at Croke Park, the 82-thousand seat stadium that will play host to the game later this year. They plan to do more.
The NFL would not commit to anything in Ireland beyond 2025, but said often when they play in a new country or city, there is an appetite for more. Rooney said the announcement of this game ‘charts a path forward to what we feel is a very exciting future for the Steelers in Ireland’.
What that will be other than continued work to help grow the game is unknown. It’s unlikely to be a situation like the Jacksonville Jaguars who play multiple games a year in London.
The opponent, which several outlets, including 93.7 The Fan’s Andrew Fillipponi, reports is the Green Bay Packers, had not been confirmed. Neither has the date or any information yet on purchasing tickets.
Rooney believes it will feel like a home Steelers game.
“We have the same expectation we have for all of our games where black and gold shows up in a big way,” Rooney said Friday. “The Terrible Towels will certainly make the trip across the pond to Croke Park and really put Pittsburgh and Steeler Nation on display for all to see. We believe we have the best fan base in football. We cannot wait for them to experience this international game in what we call our motherland for the Rooney’s.”
Rooney said they expect not just fans from Pittsburgh, but from across the globe for a game the NFL GM of UK and Ireland Henry Hudson said will be ‘a mini Super Bowl’.
“It is a really special place in our hearts,” Rooney said. “The fact that we can now bring the Pittsburgh Steelers there for a regular season game at the historic Croke Park is truly a dream come true for our franchise. We can’t wait to kick the game off.”