An American Football ‘invasion’ is coming to Dublin. College football teams Notre Dame, nicknamed the ‘Fightin Irish’, will play Navy college football team in Autumn this year. It is said that the clash will guarantee a €23m boost to the hospitality industry in Dublin.
About 40,000 Americans are now expected to travel to Ireland for the weekend of September 1 — meaning it will rank alongside the Ryder Cup and the Special Olympics in terms of tourist draw. It was originally thought just 25,000 would make the trip to Ireland to see the game.
The city’s hotels have long been booked out for the weekend and organisers have resorted to appealing for landlords to make private apartments available for short lets. Tourists will pay about €360 for a two-bed apartment for two nights.
Kate Nolan of Notre said that ”We knew it would be popular, but we never imagined we’d have so many coming over. We were initially worried about finding accommodation for our travellers in Dublin but we are now looking as far away as Athlone to get them housed.”
According to the respective teams Notre Dame have sold 30,000 tickets already, while a further 5,000 have been bought by those on the Navy side.
Even though the American College League fixture is now sold out, the college also expects another 5,000 ticketless enthusiasts to travel here to attend the parties and side events which will accompany the game.
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