Nebraska vs. Illinois moved from Dublin to Champaign
The Irish will have to wait a wee bit longer to see their beloved Cornhuskers in person.
!#$@!& pandemic!
https://twitter.com/mitchsherman/status/1362166766072307713?s=19
Game will still be played August 28th though.
February 17th, 2021 at 5:41 PM ^
Aah, too bad for both schools as they won't get a chance to change their luck by touching the Blarney Stone.
Edit: kiss the Blarney Stone
February 17th, 2021 at 5:59 PM ^
Kiss the Blarney Stone. Although I can’t imagine they have too many people interested in doing that right now.
February 17th, 2021 at 6:04 PM ^
Oh damn you're right thanks for the clarification Mr. Sinatra!
February 17th, 2021 at 7:19 PM ^
You’re living in my second favorite city, you can’t be getting too many things wrong. Lived there for 20 years myself. Ann Arbor is still my favorite.
February 17th, 2021 at 8:42 PM ^
Hah! Love Ann Arbor but I couldn't deal with the cold anymore, San Diego is America's Finest City for sure!
February 17th, 2021 at 8:54 PM ^
In normal times I’m in San Diego every six weeks so I don’t mind the cold. Coming back for St. Patricks Day for five nights - speaking of the Blarney Stone.
February 18th, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
Nice! Yeah the Blarney Stone on Mission Gorge rd. Right?
We should get together for a beer and other mgobloggers can join us like SDCran and San Diego Wolverine.
February 17th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
And a game that no one wants to see anyway. Better off visiting the Guinness factory tour and the Temple Bar than seeing these two play.
Unless, of course, you want to see one team outhit the other. Then it's all worth the trip.
February 17th, 2021 at 5:59 PM ^
The game was supposed to be the 2nd in a series of CFB games, last season's scheduled game, ND vs Navy, was also moved back across the pond because of the Covid pandemic:
Padraic O’Kane, director of Irish American Events, made clear that college football in Ireland in the future is a distinct possibility.
"Whilst today’s announcement is another difficult blow for the Irish Hospitality and Tourism Industry, as organizers, we are fully engaged with our stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic and remain hopeful, that with the right support, we will be in a position to re-launch the Aer Lingus College Football five-game Series in the coming months.
“We are at an advanced stage of negotiations with high-profile Universities for the 2022 and 2023 fixtures. However, the five-game series business model post-Covid-19 has additional costs and risks which we are currently working through with our public and private stakeholders and partners.”
_________________
Looks like Padraic will need to come up with a more cunning Aer Lingus plan.
February 17th, 2021 at 10:31 PM ^
Aer Lingus you say?
February 17th, 2021 at 6:00 PM ^
That's one positive effect of COVID. The idea of those two schools playing anywhere other than in Lincoln or U-C was idiotic to begin with.
February 17th, 2021 at 6:08 PM ^
As long as a game like that is a "one-off" (and this Nebraska/Illinois game was a one-off), I 100% completely disagree.
I went to the UCF vs Penn State game in Dublin in 2014. Great time in a great city.
There are plenty of other opportunities available to me annually if I want to go to a game in State College or Orlando. A game in Dublin was truly a "once in a generation" opportunity.
February 17th, 2021 at 6:23 PM ^
A non-conference game is different though. I don't know why a team would give up a home conference game, unless it's Rutgers. They might have home field advantage in another country.
February 18th, 2021 at 11:34 AM ^
I’m thinking for the same reasons Nittany Fan discussed. PSU fans will have a ton of opportunities to see them play at Beaver Stadium. Going across the pond to watch them in a unique city/environment is once in a lifetime stuff. If I could go watch Michigan play Purdue in Rome...why not be excited for it! Could care less if it cost them one game at home. That’s why I never got the belly-aching some did over the home game against Rutgers at MSG.
February 17th, 2021 at 7:40 PM ^
At least PSU is usually a top 20 team and most of their fans can get to Dublin via direct flight pretty easy. Do you really think many Nebraska fans are going to travel there? I can't imagine too many locals want to see 2 trainwreck programs.
February 17th, 2021 at 7:54 PM ^
The 2014 PSU/UCF game, there were about 20K locals there. That despite PSU being mediocre then, and UCF (despite coming off a Fiesta Bowl appearance) being a non-brand name. There is a good deal of Irish interest in American football.
Omaha to Dublin is just like Pittsburgh to Dublin. No direct flights, but plenty of 1-stop connections. I don't think Nebraska fan travel would have been much more difficult than PSU travel.
I may be the minority, but I thought Nebraska/Illinois in Dublin was a good idea all the way around.
February 18th, 2021 at 1:02 PM ^
According to ESPN, the announced attendance for that game between PSU and UCF was a bit over 53K. There's no breakdown available for local Irish attendees vs American tourist attendees.
The game was played at Croke Park in Dublin. Croke has a capacity of 82,300, and has hosted a variety of events—sporting and non-sporting—which have exceeded that capacity.
Even Celine Dion and the Spice Girls drew considerably more than 53K.
February 17th, 2021 at 6:09 PM ^
They''ll manage.
In Ireland, Guinness is called Champaign.
February 17th, 2021 at 6:44 PM ^
Why were they playing on the NW side of Columbus in the first place?
February 18th, 2021 at 9:52 AM ^
damnit, beat me to the joke
(also, for people who haven't been there, Dublin OH is a very well-heeled suburb and I wouldn't be surprised if their high schools have better football facilities than many FCS colleges)
February 17th, 2021 at 7:15 PM ^
The good people of Dublin have no idea how lucky they are..,
February 17th, 2021 at 8:15 PM ^
Who the fuck would show up to this shit show. If these teams combine for 6 wins I’ll be impressed
February 17th, 2021 at 8:32 PM ^
Maybe they could play in Dublin, California.
February 18th, 2021 at 12:15 PM ^
There's also Dublin Ohio.
February 18th, 2021 at 7:33 AM ^
I can think of no better way to enhance the profile of college football in Europe than to have.....errr....Nebraska play Illinois......in Ireland.
They dodged a bullet indeed.
February 18th, 2021 at 12:14 PM ^
Trying to export college football to Europe is not my cup of tea. These are college students. Am not in favor of the NFL doing this, let alone.
Aside from Notre Dame playing in Ireland once every five or so years, that's about the extend of the Euro experiment (IMO).