The Penn State University football team plays its season opener this Saturday against the University of Central Florida, with a unique spin. The big game is scheduled to be played at the Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Croke Park officials expect the game to bring $30 million into the Irish economy, thanks to an expected 16,000 visitors from the US.
John Affleck, Knight Chair in Sports Journalism at Penn State is in Dublin with a group of student reporters. He says the success of previous American college football games held in Dublin caused Irish officials to take notice.
“It actually boosted the tourism economy in Ireland by about 2%,” he says.
He also talks about Penn State and Pittsburgh’s ties to Ireland, the work his students are there and the now downgraded travel threat from the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland.
