The Pittsburgh Steelers are expecting to play a regular-season game in Ireland in 2025, according to a report by Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The Steelers will have to give up a home date at Acrisure Stadium in order to host an international game. NFL rules adopted in 2021 dictate that every team must host an international game at least once every eight years. The Steelers have nine regular-season home games in 2025.
“I know the Steelers really wanna go there,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at an event in the UK prior to the Jaguars-Bears Week 6 game from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. “I have no doubt that we’re gonna be playing in Ireland. I don’t know if it will be next year, but it’ll be coming soon.”
The Rooneys have been pushing for a game in Ireland for years, and it appears it will come to fruition in 2025.
The Steelers continue to expand their coverage in The Emerald Isle, which is the ancestral home of the Rooneys. Pittsburgh also has international marketing rights in Mexico and Germany.
Rooney stated at the NFL Owner’s Meetings in March that the Steelers would push for a game in Ireland. One of the cities being explored is Dublin. The last time the Steelers played in Ireland was in 1997 for a preseason game against the Chicago Bears. The Steelers have never played a regular-season game in Ireland.
“We’re hoping that sometime soon we’ll be playing another game in Ireland. We played back in the ’90s, it was a preseason game. We expect next time we play a game in Ireland it will probably be a regular-season game. And who knows, it could be one of these years coming up soon.”
The two stadiums the NFL plans to study are Croke Park and Aviva Stadium. Aviva Stadium has hosted numerous college football games, while Croke Park hosted that meeting between the Steelers and Bears. The Steelers want to be that team to play in Ireland, and it could happen as early as next year with Pittsburgh having nine home games. They have not played internationally since 2013, when they played the Minnesota Vikings in London.
Along with the three AFC North opponents, the Steelers’ 2025 home schedule features games against the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. They also will play the an opponent in the AFC South and NFC West. As of right now, the second-place teams in those respective divisions are the Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks