Steelers Now
With their ties to the country, the Pittsburgh Steelers are hoping to be the first NFL team to host a game in Ireland. Steelers president Art Rooney II gave an update on the process in an exclusive interview with Rob King, which was posted on Steelers.com on Monday.
“You know, I think we’re still optimistic that it’s going to happen,” Rooney said. “Hopefully going to have an announcement soon, but it’s not official until it’s official. We’re just going to wait until all those pieces fall into place, but we’d love to be the first team to host a game in Ireland — a regular season game.”
The Steelers are one of three NFL teams with Ireland as their designated global market, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets. Pittsburgh has expressed that playing a game in Ireland is one of its long-term goals. Late Steelers owner Dan Rooney served as Ireland’s ambassador from 2009-12.
NFL.com’s Jeremy Bergman wrote in November that league commissioner Roger Goodell was eyeing eight international games for the 2025 season.
“We are definitely going to Spain, we announced that,” Goodell said before a matchup between the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers in Munich, Germany. “We expect to return to Mexico City. We expect to return to Brazil. We will certainly be back in the U.K. And we’re possibly also looking at the potential of another game in the U.K. area in Ireland, possibly. That’s a possibility. And we’ll certainly be back here in Germany. So if that total’s eight, that’s what we’re shooting for.”
Dublin’s Aviva Stadium has been the site for a handful of college football games and could be a site the league looks at. Croke Park was the venue of a preseason game between the Steelers and Chicago Bears in 1997.
