The GAA is not going to allow the outcry surrounding the moving of the All-Ireland semi-final replay between Kerry and Mayo to Limerick due to an American football game at Croke Park dampen their plans for the future.
Talking to Michael Moynihan in the Irish Examiner today, Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna said that the association has loftier plans than college football, they want the NFL.
The NFL has had an experiment going with games in London for some years, and they’re very appreciative of that. They’re not going to put more games into London, but I think eventually they’ll put a franchise in Europe to capture that part of the market.
Rather than letting them focus all their activities in London, we feel we have an opportunity to attract American football here.
The NFL has been softening American disquiet about a European franchise by slowly ramping up the number of games played in London. Between 2007 and 2012 it was just one game, last year it was two and this year it will be three.
America's favourite sport coming to Dublin is all very much a long term plan for the GAA though.
We’re aiming to build Dublin as a venue for American football, to get as many of these games as possible. That’s what we’re turning our attention to, though over a 10 to 12-year period.
Picture credit: Sportsfile
