Although their quarterback situation still isn’t clear, the 2025 season should be an exciting one for the Pittsburgh Steelers. If nothing else, they’ll make history by playing in the NFL’s first regular season game in Ireland. However, we still don’t know who their opponent will be. The man in charge of creating the schedule is Mike North, listed as the NFL’s Vice President of Broadcast Planning and Scheduling. Recently, he gave some insight on who the Steelers could face in their trip overseas.
“I wouldn’t take Buffalo-Pittsburgh and Dublin completely off the table just yet,” North said recently 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.”
Rumors have been swirling about the Green Bay Packers potentially being the Steelers’ opponent in Ireland. The Packers were recently granted international marketing rights in Ireland. That could hint at them playing in the NFL’s first regular season game there.
However, Aaron Rodgers could throw a wrench in those plans. At the moment, it seems like Rodgers is going to eventually sign with the Steelers. That would raise the stakes for the Steelers’ game against the Packers. The NFL might want Rodgers facing his old team to go in a more primetime spot.
Steelers-Bills is another big matchup. The Steelers have been a consistent playoff team, not having a losing season in over 20 years. Meanwhile, the Bills are one of the best teams in the league. Pitting their high-powered offense against the Steelers’ stout defense could put a lot of eyes on the game in Ireland.
While North isn’t ruling out sending Bills-Steelers to Ireland, he also made it clear that the NFL views that as a marquee matchup. Even if it doesn’t come in Ireland, it sounds like that game will get put in a primetime spot.
North also makes it seem like the NFL wants to give their international fans an entertaining matchup. With this being the first regular season game in Ireland, that’s probably even more true. Although they could choose to keep Steelers-Packers in Pittsburgh, Steelers-Bills isn’t a bad consolation prize. Some Steelers fans might appreciate that more than having that game fall on a holiday like Christmas.
