A Landmark Weekend for North American Sport in Ireland 🇺🇸🇮🇪
September 2025
A defining moment for Irish sport and a glimpse of the future we’re building.
The first-ever National Football League (NFL) regular season game in Dublin brought the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers to Croke Park and the world responded in record-breaking numbers.
📊 The NFL Dublin Game in Numbers:
🏟 74,512 fans packed the stadium
✈️ 70% of tickets sold abroad {35% U.S., 35% UK/Europe, 30% Ireland}
🌍 30,000+ international visitors, with an average 4-night stay
💰 €9.95 million public investment - €64 million economic uplift - €20m+ in tax returns
🍻 57% increase in pub spending across Dublin; restaurants, hotels and retail at capacity
📺 7.9 million viewers on NFL Network (second-biggest international game ever) and 20 million+ U.S. broadcast audience
📰 Global media exposure that money simply can’t buy
That was the power of one weekend.
** source: NFL.com
Building the Stage for What Comes Next
To mark this historic occasion, Prime Arena Holdings was honoured to be welcomed by U.S. Ambassador Edward Sharp Walsh at his residence in Phoenix Park.
This event brought together leaders from sport, diplomacy and business and highlighted a shared belief: Ireland is ready to host world-class North American sports at scale.
Our CEO Dermot Rigley presented our vision for Prime Arena, a world-class multi-purpose venue that will make weekends like this the norm not the exception.
🏒 An 8,000-capacity arena built to North American standards
🇮🇪 Home to Dublin’s first professional ice hockey franchise in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL)
⛸️ A stage for showcase events from the National Hockey League (NHL) to exciting Olympic crowd pleasers.
🎤 Concerts, major tours, exhibitions, conventions and cultural showcases
We were also delighted to meet NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss how Ireland can play a central role in the League’s international vision and in the growth of North American sports across Europe.
Strategic Alignment with Ireland’s Sports Diplomacy Goals
The Dublin Arena project aligns strongly with the Government of Ireland’s International Sports Diplomacy Framework (2024), which sets out a vision to use sport as a tool of international engagement, identity expression, and economic opportunity.
The Framework articulates four core strategic goals:
Enhancing Ireland’s global reputation as a sporting nation
Deepening diaspora ties through sport
Promoting international sporting partnerships
Maximising the economic benefits of major sports events
As a national-scale venue with an international footprint, Dublin Arena supports all four objectives in tangible and impactful ways connecting Ireland’s sporting heritage to a global stage.
Prime Arena: Ireland’s Year-Round Global Stage
The Vikings-Steelers game was proof of concept. Our Arena in Cherrywood will turn that proof into a permanent platform, embedding this level of impact directly into Dublin’s economy:
✅ €300 million+ net additional expenditure annually
✅ 1 million+ visitors per year
✅ 200,000+ hotel bed nights
But Cherrywood Arena is more than numbers.
It’s about bringing a North American entertainment experience to Ireland, world-class sport, culture and events, 365 days a year.
NHL showcase games
ATP tennis tournaments
World-class concerts & global tours
International exhibitions & conventions
An Olympic Federation-standard ice facility: the national home for Ireland’s winter sports athletes
The NFL showed what Ireland can achieve in a single weekend.
Prime Arena will provide the permanent stage to capture that success, consistently, sustainably and at scale.
📸 Dermot Rigley with Ambassador Edward Walsh (Left) and with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence (Right)