UNE business students get behind-the-scenes look at historic NFL game in Ireland
Four University of New England business students got a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the National Football League’s expansion into Europe when they worked as volunteers at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, at the Steelers-Vikings game on Sept. 28.
The game marked the first time the NFL hosted a regular-season game in Ireland. And, since the owners and founders of the Steelers — the Rooney family — have Irish roots, a frenetic fan excitement surrounded the game, said Hannah Cook (Sport Leadership and Management, ’26), one of the four students chosen for the trip by Aimee Vlachos, Ed.D., teaching professor and program director for the outdoor business and innovation major in UNE’s College of Business.
“To be able to travel abroad and have this experience is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's always been a dream of mine to work for a sports team and I thought this would present a good opportunity to step in that direction,” Cook said. “You could tell for a lot of Irish fans at the game it was their first time ever watching (American) football. I was thinking of working in marketing and just seeing how this game was marketed to those fans was very interesting.”
Cook, who was joined in Ireland by David Wilcox (Business, ’26), Connor Curcio (Sport Leadership and Management, ’26), and Lily Hagen (Business, ’26), watched with interest as the NFL staff at the game encouraged Irish fans cheering for the Steelers to use the famed “terrible towel,” and how during commercial breaks the rules of American football were explained to a European country where people know “football” as soccer.
“I think they were really proud to see the game hosted in their country. It was super cool to see the excitement on people’s faces,” Cook said.
Vlachos, knowing the Steelers game in Ireland would be a rare, historic sporting event to attend, worked on securing spots for UNE volunteers before the date of the game was even announced last fall.
Vlachos connected with Jim Rooney, the grandson of Steelers’ founder Art Rooney, during the pandemic after he wrote a book on sports marketing and has invited Rooney to present to her classes since then. Earlier this fall, Jim Rooney’s son, Jimmy Rooney, came to UNE to engage sports marketing students in a focus group for a new sports app he's developing, providing an unparalleled professional learning experience for the fledgling business leaders.
"International experiential education allows students to apply their skills in a global context, build professional networks across borders, and gain unique experiences that set them apart as they enter competitive career fields,” Vlachos said.
While the UNE group did some sightseeing during the short, five-day trip to Europe, their stay in Dublin was mostly jam-packed with tours of professional sports facilities and meetings with corporate leaders in Irish professional sports, such as Daniel Wynne, head of operations at the Aviva Stadium, a 52,000-seat, multi-use stadium for both soccer and rugby.
The day of the game, the students arrived at the stadium at 6:30 a.m. and went to work checking in staff who worked in concessions, security, and game operations. When fans started arriving at 11 a.m. — more than three hours before the start of the game, the UNE students’ were tasked with giving out special NFL pins to staff who went above and beyond, to celebrate their role in shepherding the NFL to Ireland.
“We were supposed to give them to people who were helping fans in any way they could, to thank them on behalf of the NFL,” Cook said. “It was pretty cool. It was very awesome. I was shocked at the number of fans who got there so early.”