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Huskers to Play Illinois in Ireland in ... 2022?


Mavric

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Man I think this is awesome. For one, this will be a great showing of our fanbase as I expect to see alot of Husker fans in the stands. Should be on national TV as well so people will see that. I like the idea of an early conference game, especially against Illinois, then a cupcake later in the schedule. Alabama does this for a reason and I think it will be nice for us down the strech of that season. Also as @swmohusker pointed out, this is a nice little bonus in recruiting. 

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Husker in WI: “I have no idea why either team would go to Ireland.”

Lots of Notre Dame fans in the Chicago area. Also, lots of Fighting Illini fans around Chicago. Also, lots of people of Irish heritage in Chicago and the State of Illinois. This gives the Illini a chance to reclaim a bit of media splash territory in Chicago and Illinois with the buzz about this Ireland game. Also, the Illini football team sees a good chance to be competitive with the Huskers as things stand right now. It’s a total win for the Illini. As for the Huskers, they get a cool trip and a chance to stay off of Interstate 80 for a change. Yeah! Wins all around for everybody.

As for the bigger picture, between the NFL and NCAA they keep trying to sell American football to the British and Irish. As a novelty, it looks fine. But whether those folks over there will ever be sold on American football is a big question. You have to grow up with the game and develop some deep family roots with it. Unless they start playing American football seriously in the schools over there, these games will just be a side show to the serious kind of Euro/World football they are actually passionate about.

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If you're wondering about attendance numbers for these games: "Apart from the game in 1989, attendance has never fallen below 38,000 for these games with a peak in 2014 of 53,304 turning up at Croke Park."

 

https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/ncaa-college-football-returns-to-ireland-in-a-big-way-notre-dame-to-face-navy/

 

Edit: Wikipedia's got attendance numbers for each game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Isle_Classic#Results

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Just for fun, here's a couple pics of Dedrick Mills (#26) from the 2016 game.

 

ngeMl8F.jpg

 

Apparently there's a Getty Images photographer named Cody Glenn, lol.

 

This one's just after he scored the game-winning touchdown.

 

DwkY8ob.jpg

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@TGHusker It sounds like various Irish tourism & government groups fund at least some of it. There's a quote from the Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) in the press release.

 

https://collegefootballireland.com/sponsors/

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191014005490/en/Aer-Lingus-College-Football-Classic-Series-Continues

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2 hours ago, Toe said:

Just for fun, here's a couple pics of Dedrick Mills (#26) from the 2016 game.

 

ngeMl8F.jpg

 

Apparently there's a Getty Images photographer named Cody Glenn, lol.

 

This one's just after he scored the game-winning touchdown.

 

DwkY8ob.jpg

Am I lookin at the flex bone and a half dozen piss drunk Irishmen?

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