NFL Schedule Maker Thinks Steelers Could Face AFC Foe in Ireland
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponent for the Ireland game this year has not been announced yet, but there’s been speculation that it will be the Green Bay Packers, especially with Green Bay now having global marketing rights in Ireland.
Mike North, who’s the NFL vice president of broadcast planning, thinks the Buffalo Bills could be in play for the Ireland game, however.
“I wouldn’t take Buffalo-Pittsburgh and Dublin completely off the table just yet,” Mike North said on the Always Gameday in Buffalo podcast. “But to your point, there’s a lot of other homes for a game like Buffalo-Pittsburgh, especially if Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback. You could see it Week One in a national window, you could see it Week Two in the first Thursday Amazon game, you could see it on a Sunday night, a Monday night.
“You could see it on Black Friday, you could see it on Thanksgiving night, you could see it on Christmas. There’s so many different ways to deploy that asset. But I wouldn’t completely rule out Dublin. Don’t be shocked if you see a big game or two as we continue to build interest in not just internationally, but also domestically.”
Packers executive Mark Murphy believes the Steelers may try to keep that game at Acrisure Stadium, especially if they sign Aaron Rodgers.
Murphy, speaking the Packers tailgate tour on Thursday, said that the Steelers will probably try to keep that game from being moved overseas.
The NFL has not forced divisional teams to play overseas and the Steelers are unlikely to want to give up a divisional home game. That leaves six other potential opponents, including the Packers. The Steelers other home opponents in the 2025 season will be the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks.
The Colts will be hosting the first-ever NFL regular season game in Berlin, Germany this season. The Dolphins will be the home team for the first game played in Madrid, Spain.
The Vikings played in London in 2024, which would probably make the Bills and Seahawks the top choices to face the Steelers in Dublin if it’s not the Packers.
The Steelers will be giving up a home game for the trip to Ireland, as they are required to do once every eight years by the NFL. That means the opponent will come from the group of teams that is currently scheduled to be playing in Pittsburgh in 2025.
The Steelers and Bills have seen a ton of one another lately. The Sehawks have also been a common opponent in recent years.
Teams sometimes don’t like to take away a home game against teams that have rarely visited, but neither of those would be the case in these matchups.
The Steelers haven’t played the Vikings since 2021, and haven’t faced them in Pittsburgh since 2017. The Steelers also faced Green Bay in those two seasons, but the Packers also came to Pittsburgh in 2023.
Alan Saunders contributed reporting for this story.