Steelers Have ‘Aspirations’ to Play Game in Ireland

After being awarded the rights to build a global brand by the NFL in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland through the league’s Global Markets Program, the Steelers are aspiring to play a game there in the future.

Steelers Director of Business Development and Strategy Daniel Rooney made the trip to Ireland for a press conference on Thursday, where the team talked about their aspirations and plans for the future with the rights. In those plans, the teams hope, to include a game in Ireland at some point in the future.

“Our aspirations long term are to play a game in Ireland,” Rooney said to the Associated Press “As we move through the process, we’ll be evaluating all options.”

The Steelers already have a deep connection with the Republic of Ireland due to the late Dan Rooney. In 2009, President Obama named Dan Rooney as the United States ambassador to Ireland and he remained as such until 2012 when he resigned and moved back to Pittsburgh.

The connection runs even deeper than that as the city of Dublin, Ireland hosted a preseason game between the Steelers and the Chicago Bears at Croke Park in 1997, which is the only time the NFL was in Ireland. The team has now expressed a desire to return to Ireland for another game in the future.

With all of the connections to Ireland, it’s likely that the Steelers will get that done at some point. They also have expressed interest in playing a game in Mexico, which is the other country they have rights to build a global brand under the Global Markets Program in the NFL. It seems that the Steelers could be heading internationally soon after not traveling outside of the United States since 2013. To do that, they would have to give up one home game during the year.