The NFL is headed to both Ireland and Mexico 2025, and with both of those games declared markets of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team will most likely host an international game for the first time next season.
The Steelers have claimed NFL international marketing rights in Ireland, Mexico and Germany, but have their longest and oldest international presences in Ireland and Mexico, and should be expected to host one of the games in one of those countries next season.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell broke down the league’s international travel plans for 2025 on Sunday, as the final international game of 2024 kicked off from Munich, Germany. In 2024, the NFL played three games in London, England, one in São Paulo, Brazil and one in Munich. The league is expanding to eight international games in 2025.
The league already announced that it will be making its first regular-season appearance in Barcelona, Spain in 2025, as well as Ireland. A.return to Mexico City, where the league has played five times before has long been planned. The league has not played there since 2022 while Estadio Azteca has been undergoing renovations for the 2026 World Cup.
Goodell announced on Sunday that those plans will come to fruition, along with a return to Brazil, more games in England and Germany, and a first-ever regular-season game in Ireland.
“We are looking at the potential of another game in the UK area, in Ireland, possibly” Goodell said. “That’s a possibility.”
Get your passports ready! ✈️
Commissioner Roger Goodell tells @ColleenWolfe where the NFL is traveling next season 🌍 pic.twitter.com/Bhn9L71e4E
— NFL GameDay (@NFLGameDay) November 10, 2024
The Steelers have deep ties to Ireland. They played the only NFL game ever played in Ireland, a preseason game at Croke Park in Dublin against the Chicago Bears in 1997. Former Steelers owner Dan Rooney served as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland from 2009-12. They one of three NFL teams to hold Irish marketing rights, along with the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Current Steelers president Art Rooney II has routinely expressed his desire to return to Ireland. This year, the Steelers have international broadcast distribution in Ireland, to match their media partnerships in Mexico.
“We’re hoping that sometime soon we’ll be playing another game in Ireland,” Rooney said in August. “We played back in the ’90s, it was a preseason game. We expect next time we play a game in Ireland it will probably be a regular-season game. And who knows, it could be one of these years coming up soon.”
The Steelers will have to give up a home date at Acrisure Stadium in order to host an international game. NFL rules adopted in 2021 dictate that every team must host an international game at least once every eight years. The Steelers have nine regular-season home games in odd-numbered years, so they are more likely to host an international game in one of those seasons.
In addition to Ireland, the Steelers could also be serious candidates to play in Mexico soon. The team has a large and long-tenured Mexican fanbase, dating back to the 1970s.
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The Steelers have played just one international regular season game in the team’s history, when they played the Minnesota Vikings in London in 2013.