A sell-out crowd of 75,000 packed into one of sport's most recognisable venues to watch Manchester United beat Leeds on penalties, and now Croke Park's commercial director is asking a straightforward question: why can't we do this every summer?
Peter McKenna isn't being coy about the motivation. "My role and the role of my teams is to try and generate as much revenue as we can," he said. "Eighty-three per cent of what we take in is redistributed through our association." This isn't about vanity bookings. It's about money flowing back into the GAA, and Wednesday night showed the appetite is clearly there.
The first soccer match at Croke Park since 2009
The only previous soccer played at the ground came between 2007 and 2009, when the Republic of Ireland used it as a temporary home during Lansdowne Road's redevelopment. Since the GAA permanently lifted its Rule 42 restrictions in 2010, the stadium has hosted rugby, NFL, and college American football — but Premier League clubs are a different beast commercially.
McKenna acknowledged the obvious problem: filling an 82,500-capacity stadium limits your options significantly. "I think there's only a small number of teams that can actually make it happen," he said, pointing to United, Liverpool, and Arsenal as clubs with the Irish fanbase to justify it. That's not many targets to work with, and Premier League clubs aren't exactly easy to pin down in the summer window chaos.
"The Premier League teams are also notoriously hard to pin down," McKenna admitted. "They are just focused on the next couple of matches and transfers and everything else. This is the last thing on their mind."
A regular fixture would shift the pre-season market
If Croke Park can lock in an annual fixture, it becomes a genuine item on the pre-season betting calendar — another high-profile friendly with form, fitness, and lineup clues to dissect before the competitive season kicks off. United's odds merchants were watching Wednesday night closely, and a consistent Dublin date would only sharpen that focus year on year.
McKenna is working with partner TEG Sport to make it happen "in a more consistent, proper way." Whether Premier League clubs can be convinced to commit that far in advance remains the real obstacle. The demand from Dublin is obviously there. Getting the clubs to the table is another matter entirely.
