The Pittsburgh Steelers won’t have an international game on their 2024 regular season schedule. However, based on an update that team president Art Rooney II gave recently to Rob King for Steelers.com, we can probably expect the team to have one or maybe even two international games in the next few seasons that follow 2024. One the Steelers hope takes place in Mexico or Ireland.
“I think we will be playing overseas in the coming years, Rooney told King. “In fact, the league just made a decision at our last meeting in December that every team is going to play an international game probably within the next three or four years. So, at a minimum, we’ll play one international game in the next few years, and it could be more than that.
“But the league has made a strong commitment to expanding overseas, and certain countries look like they really have some enthusiasm for football, Germany being maybe the most recent with some of the crowds we’ve seen at games over in Germany the last two years. And, of course, we are interested in having a game in Mexico and or Ireland in the next few years.”
With all of the marketing attention the Steelers have given this past year to Ireland, perhaps that might be one of the future international locations for the team beginning as early as 2025. Last May, the NFL awarded the Steelers marketing rights for Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the league’s push to expand its audience internationally.
“Our aspirations long term are to play a game in Ireland,” Daniel Rooney, the Steelers’ director of business development and strategy, said last May. “As we move through the process, we’ll be evaluating all options.”
The late Daniel M. Rooney was U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 2009-12. Additionally, there are quite a few Rooney connections to Ireland due to the family’s heritage. In short, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Steelers play in Ireland sooner rather than later. While Ireland has never hosted a regular season NFL game, the Steelers did play the Chicago Bears in a preseason matchup at Croke Park in 1997.
As for Mexico, the NFL announced a few years ago that the marketing rights for that country would belong (in part) to the Steelers as well. The Steelers have a huge fan base in Mexico, so it would make sense for them to play in Mexico City at Estadio Azteca.
The Steelers should have nine home games on their 2025 schedule, so eight of those are likely to be played at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh to satisfy the believed lease agreement. As for that extra ninth game, perhaps the Steelers will play that one internationally in either Ireland or Mexico. As for the possibility of the Steelers playing in Germany in the future, perhaps that might happen in 2026, but it’s obviously too far in advance to tell.
“So, we’re just excited about the future,” Rooney told King about the prospects of a Steelers’ game being played internationally in the next few years.
