The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t played a regular season game in an international market since 2013 when they faced the Minnesota Vikings in London. As a part of the NFL’s Global Markets Program, team president Art Rooney II stated that all teams will be playing internationally within the next few years as the NFL ramps up its efforts.
The Steelers have rights to market in Germany, Ireland, and Mexico. Games have already been played in both Mexico and Germany in the past, but Ireland has never hosted a game. According to the General Manager of the NFL’s UK office, Henry Hodgson, Dublin could be one of the next cities to host a game.
“There’s a feasibility study, as we would call it, in a number of different European cities and Dublin is one of those,” Hodgson said in an interview with Irish Star. “Looking at stadiums, taking local meetings…we’ll take away all of that information, digest it and determine what the next steps are.”
Rooney spoke about wanting to play a game in Ireland and hoping to have it happen sometime in the next few years. The Rooney family is of Irish heritage and the late Dan Rooney served as the United States’ ambassador to Ireland from 2009 to 2012.
The Steelers have been ramping up efforts in Ireland with various fan events and a kicking clinic that brought over Mark Jackson as a tryout player to the rookie minicamp a few weeks ago. Those efforts will help foster a fanbase in the region and hopefully lead to a good turnout once they play a game over there. The Jacksonville Jaguars and the New York Jets are two other teams with rights in the market, so they could make sense for a future matchup.
“We’ve seen in the last 12 to 24 months quite a surge of interest there,” said Hodgson.
It seems likely that the Steelers will play a game internationally in 2025, and rumors indicate that could be in Mexico. There are no games being played there this season due to stadium renovations for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 26.
It doesn’t sound like they are far enough along in the process to have an Ireland game in 2025, but perhaps 2026 or 2027 could bring a Steelers matchup overseas.
