The day the NFL came to town was a special one for Dublin in many different ways.
The transformation of Croke Park into a stadium that would host the game, with seating across Hill 16, and accommodating 74,512 fans, along with all the trappings that come with one of the most sophisticated broadcast sports, can be seen in the time-lapse video doing the rounds on social media below.
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The soft power diplomacy of the occasion was witnessed in so many events through the week leading up to it, from Government receptions in Dublin Castle to a gathering to watch Flag Football on the lawn of the US Ambassador’s Residence on Saturday morning, where the mood was one of this being the first of what should be an annual occasion.
The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, is one of the most powerful individuals in the world of sports, and he spent the entire weekend in Dublin, saying all the right things about the welcome.
The Economics
We cannot yet determine the full value of the entire occasion, but this will be possible soon, thanks to the innovative and precise reporting that has been put in place by Dublin City Council, Mastercard, and Grant Thornton.
There have been those who argue that the government’s €10 million investment in supporting the event coming to Ireland was a waste of money. They are wholly and utterly wrong and by saying so display a total lack of understanding in the basic principles of economics that keep the lights on, the jobs safe, and the country functioning.
It is felt that as many as 50,000 visitors came from the US, mainly, and Europe for this game.
Standing outside Lloyds Pub on Amiens Street before the game on Sunday, I spoke to Karen, paying her first visit to Europe with her family and friends, a group of 12. They arrived ten days early, had travelled the Wild Atlantic Way from Galway to Dingle and entirely fell in love with Ireland. She is one eighth Irish, her husband is one quarter, but neither had been before and it was the game that had brought them.
It would have been rude to ask how much they had dropped on their travels, how many tips they had left behind, how many wage packets they had boosted, how many love letters for our country they would spread among their friends back home. We didn’t need to know, to know.
The Politics
Then there have been those who argued that this was less a sporting event and more a planting of the US flag on Irish soil and that this was somehow an imperial move of sorts.
Imperial like Hollywood over the last 100 years we guess, or McDonalds, or Netflix, or Nike Runners, or Levis Strauss Jeans, or North Face Jackets or need I go on.
There are elements of the NFL that are uncomfortable, the militaristic bent of the weekend where all the sideline personnel wear fatigue style gear is challenging but in the crowd yesterday I saw two people wearing this style of gear, two out of 74,512. A cultural tidal wave needs more evidence than that.
This is a sport that many of us love and have done so back to the 1980’s. It is not for everyone but why should this be the one that attracts the ire of the naysayers.
There are political challenges in the world at the moment and they are being fuelled by political movements in America but we in Ireland have a living memory of the benefits of keeping channels of communication and cultural exchange as open as possible and this was a part of that, with a nation that has always been an intrinsic part of Ireland’s story.
I am not embarrassed or will not shy away from taking a stance that supports continued talk and exchange of ideas across the Atlantic, even if I disagree with many of the stances being taken by the Government, especially in relation to the Middle East.
The Entertainment
And back to the game. For some who have never really got the sport, it may have been lost on them yesterday and that is fine but for those who are immersed, and we are many across multiple sports, this was a special game, in an atmosphere that absolutely rocked the stadium to its foundations.
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Sport as entertainment is a modern phenomenon and not to everyone’s taste but what is universal these days.
The soundtrack to the game balanced the corniness of certain elements with the noise and thunder of a proper communal sing along and I do not think anyone will have spilled into the streets around dublin’s North Inner City with anything other than a glow of what they had experienced.
Those same streets were buzzing across the weekend with American accents and Steelers Jackets and it continued deep into the night in pubs and venues all around with watch parties for the remainder of the weekend games last night.
Aisling O’Reilly did a great job as the local host in the stadium, alongside Colleen Wolfe, and when was the last time that a GAA+ live presentation finished with her dancing jigs and reels alongside Clada on the stage in the corner of the Hill?
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Check out the NFLUK Instagram Stories for more from the game day experience in Dublin
Image Credit: Sport for Business
Further Reading for Sport for Business members:
Read our Sport for Business Coverage on American Football
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