By:
Conor Martin
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings make history this weekend when they play in the first-ever NFL Dublin Game 2025 this Sunday at Croke Park.
Many American football fans will descend on Dublin for the first-ever NFL game to be played in Ireland. But there’s one thing that’s put a dampener on this weekend’s game.
The Steelers are 21/20 to win in Dublin, while their opponents, the Minnesota Vikings, are slight favourites with Irish sports betting sites at 4/5.
Those who play the hugely popular Madden video game series would have noticed that all of the European International Series stadiums have been included in their latest update to the game, but Croke Park is missing and is simply referred to as ‘Dublin Stadium’.
Since there’s no public confirmation, Irish NFL can only speculate why the iconic stadium isn’t included, but here are plausible reasons why Croke Park might be excluded.
NFL Dublin game 2025: Potential reasons why GAA headquarters aren’t in video game
There are a handful of reasons why GAA headquarters aren’t in the game.
To include a stadium, the game developer needs permission, such as a licence, from whoever owns or controls the rights to that stadium’s name, likeness, branding, etc. It’s possible EA didn’t reach a deal with the GAA and Croke Park for the image rights for the video game, or the terms couldn’t be agreed upon.
Another possibility is that EA may have prioritised other European stadiums based on perceived demand or cost. If including Croke Park adds extra expense (scanning the stadium, digital rights, etc.), they may have decided the return didn’t justify the cost, especially if “Dublin Stadium” is a more generic inclusion. Also, getting high-fidelity scans, logos, signage, and interior/exterior detail to match real life takes time and resources; maybe they didn’t have enough time to do Croke Park before the update deadline.
Croke Park exclusion is a shame
It’s a pity that Croke Park isn’t in Madden 26; it would surely add to the authenticity of the game and the excitement of the upcoming game. The Dublin Stadium doesn’t resemble the iconic Dublin landmark at all, and the only thing ‘Irish’ about the ground was the hoardings around the ground saying ‘Dublin Game’ as well as a reference to the two teams.
At present, there has been no official confirmation from EA Sports about whether they ever tried to include Croke Park, and if so, why it didn’t go through. There has also been no statement from GAA about whether they were approached and if they gave permission or set conditions.
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