The Pittsburgh Steelers are expecting to be playing internationally in 2025. Though it feels like one of the league’s worst-kept secrets, the PPG’s Gerry Dulac reports the team is confident to play a game next season in Ireland, the first regular season game to ever be held there.
“The Steelers are expecting to play a regular season game in Ireland in 2025, their first international game in 12 years, according to team sources.
Because the Steelers have nine home games in 2025, it is likely one of those games will be in Ireland.”
Rumors and speculation about the Steelers playing in Ireland have swirled for months. The NFL has hinted at it several times, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell once remarking Art Rooney II is asking him nearly ever day for his team to make the trip. The league has expanded its football footprint around the world, playing a game in Brazil for the first time to kickoff the season. Now, they set their sights on Ireland. Reportedly, the league and Irish government were in the final stages of approving and cementing a game in Dublin. The game would take place in Croke Park.
The last time Pittsburgh played an international game occurred more than a decade ago, a 2013 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London. The team arrived just 48 hours before kickoff and several described it as a miserable experience, including QB Ben Roethlisberger.
“That was a big mistake,” he said on his podcast in 2023. “Such a mistake. We were so exhausted and gassed. They were fresh as a lily.”
As Dulac notes, if the Steelers are designated as the home team, they’ll be required to arrive a week early and serve as the game’s “ambassador.” There has been some question over the viability of the team “burning” a home game overseas and potential conflicts with the Steelers’ stadium lease that could require the team to play at least eight games at Acrisure. But because of the 17-game schedule that will give them nine home games in 2025, there’s one they can afford to lose.
The Steelers representing Ireland makes plenty of sense. The Rooney Family has deep Irish roots with Dan Rooney serving as the United States Ambassador from 2009 to 2012. He became the first ambassador to visit all 32 or Ireland’s countries. In recent years, they’ve furthered their outreach holding watch parties and a kicking camp, inviting the winner to Pittsburgh’s rookie minicamp.
While this would be Pittsburgh’s first regular season game in Ireland, it wouldn’t be their first kickoff. In 1997, the Steelers and Chicago Bears played in Croke Park. The Steelers came out on top 30-17.
The NFL hasn’t indicated when they’ll announce their international slate. In past years, the overseas games are often announced in waves. Dulac speculates the news could be announced in the coming weeks.
