Dublin will host Ireland’s first NFL regular-season game at Croke Park later this year. No date has been given but one side is known: the Pittsburgh Steelers, who will be the designated ‘home team’.

It is believed the Government and Dublin City Council will contribute almost €10 million to stage the event. Sports Minister Charlie McConalogue says the American football game will attract 30,000 international visitors with an expected economic boost north of €60 million, plus €20 million to the exchequer.

Other figures predict a far greater economic bump. And that’s not counting the massive US TV audience with the potential for tourism growth that that level of exposure brings.

Ireland has become the latest pin in the map for the behemoth that is the NFL because the Dublin date is one of several outside the US this year signalling the global growth of the game.

And with annual revenue of over $20 billion, the NFL is the richest and most profitable sports league in the world.

Irish Times sports columnist Dave Hannigan, who is based in the US, explains just how massive the NFL is; the extraordinary amount of money swirling around the sport, and how the NFL has so successfully managed to monetise the appeal of the game.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

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