The Croke Park Classic is a big game in US Sport. It will be broadcast live across America as the opening game of the College Football season and has attracted an estimated 20,000 overseas visitors supporting the University of Central Florida and Penn State.
Both teams arrived in Dublin yesterday and are settled now in their respective bases of the Carton House Hotel and Powerscourt Hotel. Penn State will train at UCD later this afternoon and be introduced to the basics of hurling and football. We will bring you an inside look at that in Sport for Business tomorrow.
The travel arrangements for both teams, and 3,500 of the travelling supporters, bands, cheerleaders and more are being handled by Abbey Events, the company that did likewise two years ago for the visit of Notre Dame and Navy. It is an operation of some magnitude.
“Many of the fans have travelled on seven night packages,” said Abbey Events Managing Director Jane Magnier speaking to Sport for Business yesterday. “This is a major plus not only for Dublin but also Kerry, Galway and Belfast where most are spending at least some of their time here.”
“They have been landing through the week and from today and tomorrow will congregate around Dublin where the colour and spectacle of such a large group will be noticeable.”
“We have as many as 40 staff on the ground making sure they enjoy their Irish experience and bring news back home that the country is a great place to holiday.”
Most of those travelling are towards the upper end of the demographic scale when it comes to tourism, a fact not lost on Tourism Ireland who are block booking advertising during the ESPN coverage of Saturday’s game.
“Saturday promises to be a superb event, bringing all the razzmatazz of a college football season opener to Dublin – and benefits to the island as a whole,” said Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons.
“Sports-related tourism has emerged as a very significant element of the global travel business in recent years and this game is another wonderful hook for us to highlight Ireland in the all-important US market.”
The big events involving the teams and fans are taking place at the Guinness Storehouse where Penn State will entertain as many as 2,000 on Friday night and the Old Jameson Distillery in Smithfield being taken over by UCF.
It’s not all about booze though. Abbey Events have laid on special tours to take in the National Museum, the Titanic Experience in Belfast and the Book of Kells among other elements highlighting culture and history.
Dublin City Council are supporting the fanzine which will dominate Temple Bar over the coming days with marching bands, quarterback challenges and a wide range of entertainment for those who have travelled from the US and within Europe as well as for local visitors and Dublin residents willing to get caught up in the excitement.
“Local stores and businesses are really getting behind the activity,” said Padraic O’Kane of Corporate.ie who are managing the on the ground activities.
This is a major global event for Ireland and likely to be worth some €50 million in terms of the value to local businesses, hotels, pubs, restaurants and transport companies. The value of what it could deliver over time given that returning fans will be spreading the word at a time when discretionary spending is again rising, could be many times that.
Croke Park Stadium, Abbey Events, the GAA and the Irish American Football Association are full members of the Sport for Business Community.
