By Graham Fahy
DUBLIN (Reuters) -From locals kicking field goals in the grand surroundings of Dublin Castle to travelling fans taking over some of the city’s best known pubs, it was hard to escape the latest stop in the NFL’s overseas push in the Irish capital on Friday.
The second of a record seven international NFL games this season will be contested in Dublin on Sunday, with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings facing off in the first ever regular-season showdown held in Ireland.
Over 80,000 curious locals, American visitors and diehard Irish NFL fans are expected in the Gaelic sports home of Croke Park for Sunday’s game with organisers hoping three days of fan events around the city can help grow its European fanbase.
“This being the first NFL game in Ireland, I’m not too surprised by it (the excitement),” said Jeff Olsen, as he drank beers with fellow Vikings fans in a sea of purple shirts at J.R. Mahon’s pub by the River Liffey which bisects the city.
“The people we just met at this table over here, they flew in from Germany last night to watch this game. It’s great, it’s worldwide,” said Olsen, who previously travelled from Minnesota to London for one of the NFL’s now regular UK stops.
London will host three more games this season, with fixtures in Berlin and Madrid – also a first for Spain – scheduled to follow the NFL’s return to Sao Paulo for the second successive year earlier this month.
BIG BUSINESS FOR LOCAL TOURIST SECTOR
Nearby the pop-up NFL store beside the main shopping thoroughfare of Grafton Street was doing a brisk trade in hat and t-shirt sales, while a giant replica American football helmet outside Dublin City Hall provided a handy meeting point.
A large Steelers logo overlooked a bronze statue of playwright Oscar Wilde in another part of the city.
While interest in the NFL has grown in Ireland with games available on pay-TV and analysed on dedicated podcasts, American football is still a niche competitive sport in a country where soccer, rugby and the Gaelic sports of football and hurling dominate.
“American football is very complicated and I think other countries don’t want to get into it,” said travelling Steelers fan Valerie Riley, 52, from Gainesville, Florida.
“Football is America’s passion. I don’t know if it’s the world’s.”
With Ireland’s economy hugely reliant on U.S. multi-nationals for jobs and investment, the government will host a reception on Friday evening at Dublin Castle, the former seat of British rule in Ireland where the cobbled thirteenth century courtyard has been turned into an artificial football field.
The event is also big business for Ireland’s tourism sector. Dublin Airport expects tens of thousands of American visitors, with many like Vikings fan Jason Zwieg making a holiday of it and travelling across the country.
Dublin has previously hosted U.S. college football, with the direct economic impact from the two most recent games estimated at between 130 million euros ($152 million) and 180 million euros, according to accountancy firm Grant Thornton.
“I’m keeping a detailed list of every pub and bar and drink that I’ve had. It is extensive,” Zwieg said.
($1 = 0.8554 euros)
(Additional reporting and writing by Padraic Halpin)
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