Seventy-five thousand people watched Manchester United beat Leeds on penalties at Croke Park on Wednesday night, and the stadium's bosses want more of it. A lot more.
Peter McKenna, Croke Park's stadium and commercial director, isn't hiding his ambitions. "Something that's regular, and can be anticipated and planned for, is a far better style of event," he said. The goal is simple: lock in an annual Premier League pre-season fixture in Dublin and turn a one-off occasion into a fixture on the football calendar.
Why this actually makes sense
Croke Park has capacity for 82,500. Only a handful of clubs in world football can realistically fill it. McKenna knows this. "Manchester United would certainly be one of them. Liverpool and Arsenal have well established fan bases in Ireland," he said — and he's right. Those three clubs could sell out Croker in their sleep.
The financial logic is just as clear. Eighty-three percent of revenue generated at Croke Park goes back into the GAA. This isn't about prestige — it's about funding Gaelic games across Ireland. A sold-out Premier League friendly pumps serious money into that engine.
Wednesday's game was only the second time soccer had been played at the venue since 2009, when it briefly served as Ireland's home during the Lansdowne Road redevelopment. The GAA lifted its ban on foreign sports permanently in 2010, and Croke Park has since hosted rugby, NFL, and college American football. Soccer, somehow, took another 15 years to return properly.
The problem is getting clubs to commit
McKenna was candid about the main obstacle. "The Premier League teams are also notoriously hard to pin down. They are just focused on the next couple of matches and transfers and everything else. This is the last thing on their mind."
Pre-season scheduling is chaotic at the best of times — clubs are chasing signings, managing fitness loads, and navigating commercial tour commitments across Asia and the US. Slotting in a Dublin date requires planning well in advance, which cuts against how most top clubs actually operate.
TEG Sport, Croke Park's commercial partner, has been tasked with making it happen on a consistent basis. Whether they can pin clubs down early enough to make annual fixtures realistic is the real question. Wednesday proved the demand exists. Now it's a scheduling problem.
