Steelers Now
NEW ORLEANS — The Pittsburgh Steelers will be hosting a game in Ireland in 2025, and it’s only a matter of time until that game will be announced.
The NFL has already announced the venues and home teams for games in Madrid, Spain and Berlin, German for the 2025 season, and on Wednesday, announced plans to play in Melbourne, Australia in 2026.
The finishing touches are still being put on plans to have the Steelers play the first NFL regular season game in Ireland this fall.
“It’s no secret we’re having great conversations with Ireland around a potential game in Dublin,” NFL vice president Peter O’Reilly said to Steelers Now on Wednesday. “That continues to be worked through and we hope to have more to share with that in not-so-distance future.”
Sources told Steelers Now that an announcement could take place this week.
The NFL is looking to continue to expand the number of markets it hosts international games. Madrid and Berlin are new markets for the league this year, following a game in São Paulo, Brazil in 2024.
“That’s bringing a regular season game in a new market,” O’Reilly said. “Obviously, we’ve played a lot of games in London, but going to Ireland, with the right partnership, is something that we know will be really special and move our game forward. Bringing something to our fans in Ireland is something that we continue to be excited about as we finalize that.”
Ireland has long been on the NFL’s shortlist to host a regular season game. The Steelers played the Chicago Bears in a preseason game at Croke Park in Dublin in 1996. Croke Park is also expected to be the venue again this time around. The Steelers have long ties to the country, and former owner Dan Rooney was the American ambassador to Ireland.
“Having spent time there, having seen the passionate fans in Ireland, having met them, having seen the events the watch parties that we’ve done, having seen the Steelers watch parties, having seen the level of engagement, we know that a game in Ireland would be hugely successful,” O’Reilly said.
The Steelers have international marketing rights in Ireland and Northern Ireland, Mexico and added Germany to that list last year, with president Art Rooney II saying he’d eventually like to play in all three markets.
The Steelers had been seen as likely to host their first international game in Mexico in 2025, but delays to the renovations on Estadio Azteca in Mexico City have put its ability to host an NFL game in the 2025 season in doubt. The stadium is being renovated ahead of the 2026 World Cup, and O’Reilly said on Thursday that the NFL does not yet know when it will be able to return to the stadium. Though the NFL may explore other Mexican markets in the future, it is committed to playing at Azteca when it returns to Mexico, which last hosted a game in...
