Dublin is gearing up for Farmageddon this weekend with the US college football season kicking off with a game between the rival farm boys of Kansas and Ohio.
While the eyes of tens of thousands of Americans, as well as some locals, will be on the bone-crunching tackles in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening, Irish tourism officials will be eyeing a substantially more lucrative prize.
It is estimated that the game between Kansas State University’s “Wildcats” and Iowa State University’s “Cyclones” will be worth more than €100 million to the local economy in the short term. However, Tourism Ireland is taking a punt that its worth could be much more in the longer term.
About 22,000 football fans have travelled from America to Dublin for the opening fixture of the US College Football season. An independent assessment from Grant Thornton suggests the game and the surrounding hoopla will be worth as much as €130 million in tourism revenue.
RM Block
Visiting fans will spend an average of seven nights travelling throughout Ireland. Tourism Ireland has sought to leverage the potential of the game to position the island of Ireland front and centre for millions of potential US holidaymakers.
The football showpiece will be broadcast live to about 4.5 million viewers across the US on ESPN – America’s go-to sports network and the sole broadcaster of the game.
Tourism Ireland has partnered with the network to highlight the country as part of the broadcast.
There will be video segments spotlighting the country’s scenery and experiences, a joint welcome message from Tourism Ireland and Aer Lingus – the sponsors of the game – and on-screen call-outs encouraging viewers to begin planning their visit on tourism website ireland.com.
“The Aer Lingus College Football Classic is a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on Ireland in one of our most important markets,” said Tourism Ireland’s chief executive Alice Mansergh.
She suggested the ESPN broadcast offered “a fantastic opportunity to highlight Ireland as a wonderful holiday destination, as well as a top location to host large-scale international sporting events”.
Tourism Ireland has also been working with the official travel company for both colleges and advertised heavily with schools and alumni associations on radio, print, digital and social channels, as well as influencer activity – targeting the fans and alumni of both colleges, encouraging them to travel to Ireland for the “trip of a lifetime”.
