Updated at 2.50pm
THE 2016 COLLEGE American football game between Boston College and Georgia Tech will take place on Saturday 3 September 2016 as first reported on The42 in May.
The encounter, which was originally scheduled to take place in Croke Park at a later date in 2016, will now take place in the Aviva Stadium with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD making the official announcement of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin today.
The game has been moved to what is traditionally All-Ireland hurling final weekend in an effort to better suit Boston College’s 2016 schedule and will involve an early start for fans hoping to watch the game in the US.
While both the Emerald Isle Classic and Croke Park Classic had 2pm kick-offs, The42 understands the 2016 game will kick-off at 12.30pm Irish time, meaning a 7.30am start for fans in Boston for whom this will count as a home game.
It is our understanding the earlier kick-off is designed to facilitate the mass exodus of fans travelling home to the States, freeing up hotel rooms in the capital on the Saturday night of what is sure to be a busy sporting weekend.
As with previous games here — said to have brought in between €20-€25 million each to the local economy — many of the travel packages will be designed to bring US visitors to Ireland 3-5 days in advance of the game.
At the launch today organisers said they believed 25,000 fans would travel from the States and said the game could be worth €56 million to the Irish economy with fans choosing to spend some time outside the capital before it.
While general tickets — starting at €30 — will not go on sale for a number of months, tour packages from the US are available immediately as are corporate hospitality packages.
Originally published at 10.40am.
Can’t see either team making any impact in the championship this year!!
Actually don’t think so Frank, so little between Kildare and Dublin, that there’s an inevitability Kildare will beat them eventually and there’s that desperation within Kildare team to win a provincial title thar isn’t there in Dublin. That’s a lot favouring the Lilywhites in a tight game
Most likely not but championship about more than the big prize, it’s about the smaller but no less relevant prizes for the likes of Longford and Wicklow along the way.
Big difference to be playing against Kildare, Tyrone and Galway than Kilkenny, London and Waterford and while that will balance out with both being in Division 3, that’s a year down the line. Also, the players were completely behind the manager, that is what kept him his job and since all that unpleasantness, they have been locked away, Joe Sheridan is back, Kevin Reilly is a serious operator as is Seamus Kenny, and while Meath’s midfield is weak, they are still a talented bunch with something serious to prove. Time will tell.
That division has Limerick, Fermanagh & Clare in it aswell. Limerick were all ireland quarter finalists last year & have twice come very close to winning the Munster championship recently so I wouldnt discount the level of opposition Wicklow were up against just like that. As for the players being fully behind the manager, I wouldnt be so sure of that either, I’m sure that was what was said to the media but the reality was most likely very different.
Oi! Don’t be putting Waterford in with Kk & London. We are on the way-up.
I think this is going to be closer than meath by four, Wicklow are a decent championship team, meath have injuries to key players, have just been relegated to Division 3 & are not fully behind the manager. He barely kept his job recently due. I would say either team could win it by 1-2 points
They’ll both be sick when Carlow beat the winner in the next round :)
Very different Limerick now to the one that rattled Kerry and you can’t compare Clare and Fermanagh with Clare and Tyrone. Not discounting Wicklow, just big jump in opposition. Longford managed it, granted, and maybe Wicklow can too. Just can see Meath having a little too much class up front and can see them netting at least twice. But time will tell and it’s an exciting game. As for Carlow, Brian, I admire your optimism!
Andrew McLoughlin? Is he Anthony and Michael’s lesser known, non exist any brother?
Meath won’t win a thing as long as there’s anybody who was connected with the 2010 Leinster final team still involved.
I hope they have a nice game but we all know the Dubs will rule again in Leinster.