Boston College and Georgia Tech are to travel to Ireland next year to take part in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic on September 3rd. The game will be broadcast globally by ESPN.
It will be the second college American Football game to take place in the Aviva Stadium in recent years. It hosted the Emerald Isle Classic in 2012 between Notre Dame and Navy. Two years later, Croke Park hosted the Croke Park Classic between Penn State and the University of Central Florida.
It is hoped more than 25,000 Americans will travel to Ireland for the game, where Boston College will act as the home side. In will be the first time the BC Eagles have played on Irish soil since 1988.
The announcement comes months after the GAA said it was not "financially worthwhile" to host the game next year.
Speaking at the announcement An Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he was delighted that College Football was returning to Ireland; “This is great news for Irish tourism and the economy; in 2012 and again last year, we witnessed a huge surge of US visitors to our shores for the Emerald Isle Classic and the Croke Park Classic and I have no doubt, particularly given Boston College’s close links with this country, we will see another spectacular success in 2016”.
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