Walk around Dublin this weekend and you would be forgiven for believing you had landed in South bend Indiana.
40,000 fans have landed to enjoy not only the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow night but plenty more besides.
The tagline of the event is Much More Than a Game and rarely has a truer word been spoken.
We were privileged to be at the Ireland – US CEO Club lunch today, annually the most powerful gathering of wealth, influence and impact you could imagine.
The roll call of speakers on stage told the story of the room. President Mary McAleese got things underway and she was followed by Ryan McInerney, the Global CEO of Visa, Jean Hynes, the CEO of Wellington Management, an investment firm with €1.2 Trillion at its disposal, Edmond Scanlon, CEO of the Kerry Group and Jack Brennan, Chairman of the Notre Dame Board of Trustees.
Listening to them you begin to realise the reality of why US investment is channelled towards Ireland and why there is some comfort in believing that our education, our lifestyle, our government policy and our deep bonds with the US business and political communities mean it is not going anywhere.
Events like this copper fasten the relationship and are invaluable in their own right.
The teams were practising and the Cheer Groups and Marching Bands were warming up in Merrion Square and later tonight in the Three Arena.
The merchandise shop on the newly named Notre Dame Street was doing a roaring trade and the Whiskey Store, the Guinness Storehouse, the Museums, Galleries and street were packed.
The number that is placed on the value of this weekend and this event to the Irish economy is €147 million. Forget that, the real value in terms of relationship and connection is well north of that figure, so far north in fact that you’d need a private jet to get there are there’s plenty of them in town as well.
Aer Lingus, Dublin City Council, Grant Thornton, Horizon, Kerry Group, UPMC, Glen Dimplex, and the Irish Government are all involved in making it happen and were represented at today’s lunch.
It is a complex undertaking but worn lightly by Padraic O’Kane and John Anthony who are the twin driving force behind it.
We have an interview with both on the podcast you can listen to below and we have also told their story in tomorrow’s match programme.
Even if American Football is not your thing, throw yourself into this weekend and this event, it really is like nothing else you will experience here this year.
