The Minnesota Vikings will face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Croke Park later this year in the first regular season NFL game to be staged in Ireland.
The Steelers had previously been announced as the designated home team for the fixture, which will be played on Sunday, September 28th, with the Vikings confirmed as their opponents in a press conference in Dublin Castle on Tuesday.
Dublin has previously hosted preseason and college-level American Football games. However, the staging of a regular season fixture marks a step up in the NFL’s efforts to expand the game’s reach overseas which have seen regular season games staged in Toronto, London, Mexico City, Munich, Frankfurt and Sao Paulo.
Croke Park’s 82,300 capacity will be reduced to 76,000 for the game, with Hill 16 to be fitted with temporary seating while other areas of the stadium will be altered to accommodate more corporate and media boxes.
The State has invested approximately €10 million in bringing the game to Dublin. Government officials previously stated the economic benefit of hosting the game is estimated to be in the region of €65 million and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Charlie McConalogue forecast 30,000 overseas visitors will travel to the game.