Is it good economics to pay €10 million for an NFL match?

Thousands of American tourists have come to Dublin this weekend to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers challenge the Minnesota Vikings in Croke Park.

It is the first time ever that an official NFL (National Football League) regular season game will take place in Ireland.

Ireland has hosted seven college American football games since 2012 but this is the first one from the professional league. The score in this game will count towards who makes it to the Superbowl next spring.

The Government has approved an allocation of up to €9.95 million (excluding VAT) to the NFL in order to facilitate this game being played in Dublin.

The Department of Sport told RTÉ's This Week that of this money, $5 million (€4.2m) goes to the NFL as a licence fee.

While the balance goes towards necessary infrastructure works in Croke Park and for a range of operational support costs.

Minister for Sport, Patrick O'Donovan has defended that decision saying that getting involved in the NFL market is a "massive opportunity".

"We want to make sure we don’t lose a competitive advantage in terms of other cities who might want to eat our supper because the range of global viewership that this will bring to Dublin and Ireland is like nothing we have seen before," he said.

Ireland is just the fifth country to host an NFL match outside of the US.

Games have been hosted in the UK, Germany, Mexico and Brazil.

However, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy told RTÉ's This Week that it was "utterly crazy" to give €10 million in public money to the NFL.

"The NFL can well afford these costs," Deputy Murphy said. "They don't need the subsidy in order to put on a game in Ireland. It's simply free money for them."

NFL executive Peter O'Reilly said the league was "investing significantly" in the Croke Park event.

"There are opportunities both in economic impact and long-term impact and visibility," he told RTÉ Sport in February.

The match is estimated to attract approximately 30,000 international visitors to Ireland and 20 million television viewers.

The Government estimates the economic benefit to the country for hosting the game will be around €64 million.

Chief Executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation Eoghan O'Mara Walsh said the €10 million given by the Irish Government is a good investment.

"State investment behind major sporting and tourism events do pay dividends," he said.

"Croke Park is going to be full, and the vast majority are going to be international visitors and they're all spending their money on hotels and restaurants and pubs and tourist attractions.

"Many of them are staying in Ireland well beyond the weekend and touring the country," he said.

"Secondly, there's millions of eyeballs in the US on Ireland in the run up to the game and during the game and that can only be a good thing in terms of people considering Ireland as a holiday destination in the future."

Previous college American football matches have attracted large crowds and economic activity.

Read more: Over 27,000 US tourists in Dublin as college football returns

In August 2024, the College Classic series game played in Ireland attracted 27,000 US tourists to the economy and generated €115 million in the economy.

The game between US college football teams Notre Dame and Navy at the Aviva Stadium in 2023 generated €180 million, according to Government figures.

In 2022, Munich hosted an official NFL game which provided a €70.2 million economic boost to the German city.

Earlier this week, Minister for Sport Charlie McConalogue said the Exchequer will receive €20 million in tax returns as a result of the NFL match taking place in Croke Park.

Mr O'Mara Walsh argued that, when considered as an investment in tourism, €10 million to the NFL is "actually fairly small in terms of the return".

"Twenty-nine cents of every euro spent by a visitor goes back to the exchequer in tourism related taxes," he said.

"There's an indisputable return on investment for the State if they put money behind tourism events and this is a very good example of that."

Funding for Irish sport just under €30 million last year

The NFL is the world's richest professional sports league. For the 2024 campaign, the NFL distributed more than $13.8 billion (€11.7 billion) in revenue to its 32 teams.

For comparison, in the 2023-24 season, Premier League clubs made £6.3 billion (€7.2 billion) in revenue.

The combined wealth of the team owners is close to $1 trillion.

"One of the controversial aspects of the NFL is the owners and the people who run the clubs are very good at getting other people to pay their bills, and that has happened here," said Mr Cunningham.

"Even though the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings in revenue last year raised over $1.2 billion between them."

In 2022, it was announced that a new stadium to be built for NFL team Buffalo Bills would cost $1.4 billion (€1.19bn) but $850 million (€726 million) would come from the public purse.

Last year, core funding from the State for Irish Sport was just under €30 million.

"There's a lot of sports that are really struggling for funding, that don't have basic facilities," Mr Cunningham said.

"All the studies show that money invested in all sport you get back twofold," he added.

Read more: NFL in Dublin: Greatest show on turf rolls into Croke Park

A 2019 report from the Federation of Irish Sport found that for every €100 invested in sport by Government, the Exchequer receives up to €195 in tax revenue.

There are also health benefits, as well as economic ones, to investing in sport.

"We're giving €10 million to the NFL for one game, when the total core funding for all sports in Ireland, GAA, FAI, Sport, Ireland, Swim Ireland, is just over €30 million for the entire year," Deputy Murphy said.

"I think the Irish State is being duped here."

Deputy Murphy also pointed out that the NFL is a very wealthy league with wealthy owners and a lot of soft power in the US.

"The US military is very often promoted by the NFL. That's the military that is currently funding, assisting, arming the genocide that's happening in Gaza," he added.

"I don't think in any world is it justified for us to put €10 million into this one NFL game," he said.

"You look at grassroots sports across the country, you look at people being forced to change at the side of pitches, and you think 'Jesus, what could €10 million do in many, many local communities?’

"That would be a far better way of spending €10 million."

Growing Popularity of NFL across the world

Approximately 600,000 people applied for a ticket to Croke Park for the NFL game.

"American football has grown massively in popularity over the years here," said Mr Cunningham.

"Most of the tickets were priced at €295, three times the cost of an All-Ireland final ticket in football or hurling."

The NFL is the main league for professional American Football in the US. The games garner huge crowds, revenue and media attention.

"In recent years, the NFL have been trying to spread their wings," he said.

There are 272 regular-season NFL games in a year. This year, seven of those games are being played outside of the US, including in Spain and Australia.

Pittsburgh Steelers founded by Newry man

The Pittsburgh Steelers were founded by Newry-man Art Rooney. The team is still owned by the Rooney family, and they have maintained close links with their Irish heritage.

In 1997, the Steelers held a pre-season game in Dublin. More than 25,000 spectators watched them defeat the Chicago Bears in Croke Park on that occasion.

In 2023, after the Steelers were awarded marketing rights for Ireland, they stated they wanted to bring another game to Ireland.

Both the Steelers and the Vikings have designated a Dublin-pub each to nominate as their official fan bases: Fitzsimons in Temple Bar and JR Mahon's, respectively.

However, they are not the only ones, both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers have also nominated a Dublin pub as their fan-home for the weekend (Murray's and Sinnott's, respectively).

Several free fan events have also been organised between Thursday and today for NFL tourists and the NFL-curious.

An NFL shop has been open for the week in St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre and a separate shop, just for Steelers merchandise, will remain open for the entire NFL season on Clarendon Street.

As of yet, there is no guarantee that the NFL will return to Dublin next year although there are plans for further college American football games.

If today's game goes well, we may expect them to return on an annual basis like they have done in London.

In a statement to RTÉ's This Week, The Department of Sport said that no decision has been made regarding the hosting of future NFL games in Ireland.

"The post-event evaluation, led by Fáilte Ireland, will provide a detailed analysis of the economic and tourism impacts of the upcoming match," it said.

"This report will inform any future considerations or discussions around potential State support for similar events."

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