College Football Penn St/UCF Game confirmed 2014 in Croker

They are not going to change the dates of matches in the championship to suit an american football match.

jack presley wrote: »

The big thing is getting a major college with rich alumni on board Penn State and Notre Dame fitted that bill nicely.

Alumni with Irish heritage would be a bonus too.

Anyone have any ideas on who we would have a chance of getting? Obviously we'd all like to see Alabama v Florida State or something but that isn't going to happen.

Best bets for future games could include these programs with HUGE Alumni bases and DIEHARD Football fans that could bring over 20,000 fans (probably in a game not against another major power but you need at least one that can bring 20k):

Alabama
Nebraska
Michigan
Ohio State
Texas
Texas A&M
Georgia (non-stop flights from Atlanta)

Key to landing above schools is finding a year where they already have 7 home games and can use the 8th game as a "neutral site game".

Also, most major teams want to schedule "winnable" games...so odds of landing two Top 5-10 teams...or even 2 Top 20 teams might be hard to do...hence why you need one power/popular team...and match them with an appropriate opponent.

Many major programs now don't even want to play non-conf games on the road (Alabama likes to play their 4th non-conf game in some years basically next door in Atlanta and call it a "neutral site game" which it obviously isn't).

Hopefully the GAA can come up with a plan to make sure a semi-final replay match can take place at Croke Park and while the odds are slim that it might occur, even the game in Limerick probably hurt some walk-up crowds as locals wanted to be in the pubs or at home to watch that match.

The accolades that UCF's George O'Leary and all the UCF/Penn State fans have said about their trip (PSU Coach Franklin never would have agreed to this game if he was in charge when this contract was signed), plus the Irish and Navy experience 2 years ago...it shouldn't be hard to attract at least one major team and a suitable partner to put on a good show at Croke Park every 2-3 years.

NOTE: Fans I spoke to loved Croke Park...with all of its history, great sight lines on the sideline...cool "neighborhood" location, one that can't be found in the USA.

Aviva Stadium is very similar to almost any "new" US Stadium built over the last 10-20 years...and attending a game in that stadium just wouldn't be the same for Americans coming over from the States that wants to slurp up all the GAA/Croke Park/Irish History.

Do ya'll think Aviva and Croke Park might get in a bidding war for games? Whoever signs a game for opening weekend first probably locks up that year first. (Opening Weekend is probably the best time for teams to play in Ireland...as most teams play joke teams, many times Div I-AA teams in Week 2).

Interesting about guessing who the next teams could be. It doesn't sound like something Saban would be interested in, but then again he has a history of changing his mind :D

BKWDR wrote: »

We went into Temple Bar before the game and really enjoyed the atmosphere , we didn't stop for a drink but made our way to Gills Corner chatting away to the americans as we went. The free feeder bus was a great idea and the craic from the drivers and staff was great.

Was amazing to see the constant stream of Penn State fans down from Mountjoy and the buzz around the place was great.

Was great having the premium level tickets, made it really easy to get in and out of the bar with no ques. We had great craic with a bunch of Penn State girls that were sitting around us. Was a great game, always seems to fly by even though it's so long. A great finish to the game too. Brilliant atmosphere with the chanting and the bands and cheerleading. Overall a great experience and event. Even though it wasn't capacity it never felt like it in my opinion.

Like the others said, the americans around us were really taken with the hurling at half time. Then we encouraged them to stay after for the kerry / mayo replay which they did, which then lead us all to going to Fagans after that.

Just remembered the F16 fly by at the national anthem. WOW. That was unreal heart in mouth stuff.

Free feeder bus?. I got what I expected to be a 'free bus' from Westmoreland St and it was 4 euro each... I don't recall seeing that the buses would be charging punters but the 2 I saw were.

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

There's always the possibility that Boston College switch their game with Notre Dame from Alumni Stadium to Croke Park in 2017. The 2015 game between them won't be moving from Fenway.

That could actually sell out Croke Park.

Brian Kelly wont do another overseas game from his reaction last time. Reckon he'll still be there in 3 years?

In some pretty cool UCF News today, UCF just signed a home-home football series with perennial Top 10-20 Stanford from the Pac-12.

Sept 2015 UCF at Stanford in Palo Alto, California (in Northern California...outside of San Francisco)

Sept 2019 Stanford at UCF in Orlando, Florida

Up close & personal straight after on the pitch

polaris68 wrote: »

Delighted it was a success. While I could see why bring Notre Dame to Ireland would work with the Irish - American connection, I thought they were mad organising this particular matchup in Dublin.

Shows what I know!

UCF/Penn State game drew the largest crowd ever for an American College Football Game in Ireland (53,304), which is I think an International Attendance record for any college game played outside the USA.

The $$$ that Football fans (from USA, Europe and those outside of Dublin) brought not only to Dublin but all over the Country (we ran into UCF/PSU fans from Cliffs of Moher to Galway down to Waterford and all points in between), heck, one of our groups is just flying home today back to the states...the investment of this game...from the direct $$$ over the last few weeks to the publicity it received in the USA...to the future travel/tourist $$$ it will help generate...the event couldn't have been better (well, if the game ended 4 seconds earlier, that would have been ok too).

Thanks to the GAA and hope ya'll get another season opening kickoff game soon.

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Heard a rumour of Boston college and Notre dame 2016...

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

They don't play each other in 2016.

2015 and 2017 only.

Maybe it's next year...