Peter McKenna is hopeful Croke Park will host another American Football game in 2026 after receiving positive preliminary feedback from the NFL in relation to Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers v Minnesota Vikings fixture.
And Croke Park’s stadium and commercial director has confirmed the LED advertising panels (ribbon board) installed along the middle tiers of the stands for Sunday’s NFL match will remain in place for future use.
There have been digital boards positioned around the pitch perimeter for a couple of seasons, but Sunday was the first time Croke Park had mid-level LED advertising strips in operation.
“The ribbon board will stay, so that is going to be a great addition to the stadium and how we deliver our own messaging,” confirmed McKenna.
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Croke Park officials will conduct an extensive debrief shortly, but all the initial observations from the NFL on how Sunday’s event played out have been encouraging.
The Government stumped up €10 million to attract the fixture, but some of that investment will have longer-term benefits for the stadium too – upgraded fibre cables to improve connectivity, for instance.
The use of a skycam over the stadium on Sunday added another layer to the television coverage too.
“The camera above the pitch – I didn’t think we were able to do that technically, but they proved that you can, so I’d imagine [broadcasters here] will be looking at that,” added McKenna.
There were also countless other areas of learning for the GAA in terms of event preparation, scenario planning, medical planning and crowd interaction.
Arguably the biggest question circling since the weekend is whether this is to be a one-off visit, or whether the NFL will be returning to Dublin in the near future.
“That would be the hope,” said McKenna, when asked whether Croke Park would host another NFL game. “I think the commissioner said it’s not a question of if, it’s when.
“The feedback we have received so far has been very positive – the NFL were really impressed.
“I think the response they got from the Irish Government from the outset was extremely positive and the response they got from Dublin City Council was also extremely positive.
“All of those components make a big difference – they help make it easier for an event such as this to come to a city. Patrick O’Donovan and Richard Shakespeare both put in a huge effort to make that possible.”
The entertainment and pageantry around the game on Sunday was organised by the NFL.
“The atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic, the noise cranked up continuously, the sound was never allowed to drop,” added McKenna.
“For me, Lyra’s singing of the national anthem was a real standout from the day, it was a sensational rendition. And CLADA at the corner of Hill 16, they were great, really enthusiastic and kept the crowd going all the way through.
“The NFL put in a huge effort to make sure what was on display had a significant Irish connection.”
Work has already progressed at deconstructing what the NFL had created as Croke Park reinvents itself again, this time as a rugby stadium for the meeting of Leinster and Munster in the URC on October 18th.
Before the end of the year, the stadium will also host provincial club GAA championship games and All-Ireland club finals in both women’s football and camogie.
Only after a full debrief with the relevant parties – including An Garda Síochána, Dublin Fire Brigade and match-day stewards etc – will a complete picture of the event be known, but the early sense at Croke Park is that “everything went smoothly”.
Players from both the Steelers and Vikings spoke positively on Sunday evening about the experience.
Cameron Heyward was the last Pittsburgh player brought to the official press conference room. “You could just feel the energy behind everybody there. I don’t think it mattered if you were a Steelers fan or a Vikings fan, that crowd was electric,” said the veteran defensive tackle.
“I could tell Art Rooney [Steelers vice president and son of the team’s founder] was very excited about this game [beforehand]. He was carrying around his hurling stick, and he was explaining that sacred ground we got to play in and the importance of this game to the family. I think that resonates with a lot of our players.
“We were all very thankful to have this game here. I think before they even announced it, I just felt like, ‘Man, if we got a chance to play in Dublin’. This is a game we always circled on our calendar.”
