The gold at the end of the rainbow may come with a bit of black and purple this week.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings have traveled across an ocean to play American football in Ireland.
The BBC called the game 100 years in the making. It is one of seven international games this season, WPXI reported.
That’s because it has been almost 100 years since the Rooney family founded the Steelers.
The Rooney family hailed from Ireland. Art Rooney, the team’s founder, came from Irish immigrant grandparents who emigrated during the Great Famine, leaving Ireland for first Wales, then Canada, before landing in Pennsylvania.
Art Rooney bought an NFL franchise for $2,500 in 1933, first calling them the Pirates, then renaming them in honor of the region’s steel industry.
“This game is bigger than football - because of the Rooney family and because we’re in Ireland,” former Steeler Ike Taylor said.
As for the Vikings, ESPN said they wanted to take the international trip to help grow the league worldwide.
Not only are they taking on the Steelers this weekend, but they will also be staying in Europe to face off against the Cleveland Browns in London the next week.
In both games, the Vikings are considered the away team, and expect that 40% of the crowd at Croke Park will be rooting for them, with 60% at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium cheering on the purple and gold.
The team has played twice before in London since 2022.
Here are five things to know about the game, according to NFL.com:
- The game will kick off at 9:30 a.m. ET from Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland on Sunday
- The Steelers played the Vikings in London in 2013 at Wembley Stadium, with the Vikings beating the Steelers 34-27 in front of 83,518 fans.
- The 2013 win was the first of four international wins for Minnesota, which remains undefeated along with the Eagles and Panthers during international play. The Steelers have no international wins.
- Both teams have veteran quarterbacks, with Aaron Rodgers leading the Steelers and Carson Wentz for the Vikings. They last played opposite each other in 2020.
- Both teams are 2-1 this year. The Vikings beat the Bengals last weekend 48-10, while the Steelers beat the Patriots 21-14.
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