Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna has revealed his confidence that the venue will host another NFL game in 2027, and several more after that.
The staging of various non-GAA events at Croke Park, such as the Oasis concerts and an NFL game, helped the Association to record a consolidated surplus of €3.7m for 2025.
Speaking specifically about the NFL game between Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints at Croke Park last September, McKenna said that some of the metrics and figures around it were “off the charts”.
McKenna, who doubles as the GAA’s commercial director, said that the food and beverage sales were double what would have been sold at the Oasis gigs, and those music events were already “a high point for us”.
“And Oasis would probably be double what an All-Ireland final is, just to give you some sense of the type of turnover that happens,” said McKenna.
It was recently confirmed that the NFL won’t be coming to Ireland in 2026, opting instead for Paris’ Stade de France.
Despite this, McKenna said he is confident that there will be another game in Ireland in 2027, and several more after that.
“Our conversations with them are very, very positive,” said McKenna. “They really enjoyed themselves and we see them going back in hopefully 2027, and certainly for a number of occasions thereafter over the next decade.
“Because the experience was just so positive and that was not just this stadium, that was across the board. I think Dublin City Council’s response and the Irish government’s response was just really, really positive.”
McKenna described Ireland as “a great place to visit” which is attractive to the NFL though he expressed concern generally about “overpricing” in the capital. The GAA itself will partially address the issue when a new 200-room hotel is opened at the junction of Clonliffe Road, a project that McKenna said “is ahead of schedule and will open in April”.
“I do think we can be in danger of overpricing ourselves sometimes,” said McKenna of Dublin tourism. “That needs to be constantly watched, that we don’t kill what is a great experience. Anecdotally we’re hearing about people that come to Dublin for a break, but they go home that evening. So you’ll fly in, tour Dublin and go out again because of the cost of accommodation.”
Katie Taylor acknowledges her fans after her victory. Photograph: Gary Carr/Inpho
On the issue of a potential Croke Park superfight involving Katie Taylor in 2026, McKenna said it would take “a few of the stars to align” to make it happen. Taylor spoke again recently about wishing to end her career with a fight at GAA HQ. But her promoter, Eddie Hearn, has previously complained about the high costs associated with a contest there.
“We would love to have her here,” said McKenna. “It’s trying to pull something together that could make it happen. I think if the stars can align, wouldn’t it be fantastic?”
GAA Director General Tom Ryan also discussed the separate stadium issue of Casement Park in Belfast in his annual report for 2025. He noted that planning permission expires this July and said it is important that this date is protected by works continuing. But exact costs for the rebuild, or the new capacity, haven’t been decided.
Ryan was asked if the £170m (€195m) funding which has been locked down for the project would cover the cost or leave a shortfall.
“The project as initially envisaged would cost more than that, does that answer your question?” he responded. “We’ll be able to build a really, really remarkable stadium. There is potential for a further piece of funding out there but I think what we have available to us and guaranteed will be more than sufficient, whatever way that goes, to constitute a really, really good [stadium].”
Ryan also touched on the issue of Allianz’s sponsorship of the National Leagues, which was the subject of an Ethics and Integrity Commission investigation due to the company’s links with Israel.
“I think the learning from us from the Allianz exercise, and the ethics and integrity exercise, if you like, and one of the things that we’ve implemented is we do take a look now at potential partnerships and we do assess them in the light of all manner of factors, to make sure that the fit is right for the Association,” said Ryan.