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College football fans are in for a treat in August, with the 2023 season scheduled to get underway with an exciting match-up overseas.
Notre Dame and Navy will go head-to-head at the Aviva Stadium Dublin on Saturday, August 26, in college football’s latest venture to Ireland.
Tickets for the game have already sold out, highlighting the massive appeal of staging college football in the Emerald Isle.
More than 39,000 fans will be travelling directly from the United States – a world record for the largest number of Americans to travel internationally for a single sporting event.
The 2023 College Football Classic will likely be worth in the region of €150 million to the Irish economy, with several industries benefiting.
The tourism and hospitality sector will receive a major boost, with American visitors for the game expected to stay an average of seven nights in Ireland.
The online gambling industry is also guaranteed to see an upsurge in activity as fans clamour to wager on the college football season opener.
All of the top football betting sites in Ireland will have a ton of markets available on a fixture that will attract a massive television audience in the US.
NBC owns the rights to broadcast the game which will reportedly attract a television audience of more than ten million viewers.
The two teams previously met in Dublin eleven years ago, with Notre Dame running out comprehensive 50-10 winners on that occasion.
They will be favourites to emerge victorious this time around having posted a 9-4 record during the regular season in 2022.
However they were given an almighty fright by Navy in their most recent meeting last November, with their opponents recovering from a 35-13 deficit to nearly force overtime.
Navy racked up 19 unanswered points in the second half, but they ultimately came up just short against a relieved Notre Dame team.
Notre Dame subsequently contested the Gator Bowl, where they defeated South Carolina 45-38 after another thrilling encounter.
In addition to the 2023 College Football Classic, fans will be able to immerse themselves in a supporting cast of other games.
Full details are yet to be confirmed, but will likely feature other visiting teams showcasing their talents before the big game.
The previous time Notre Dame and Navy met in Ireland 11 years ago, 12 teams put on a superb show for fans in County Meath and Dublin.
Two years later, a pair of Pennsylvania teams faced off at the UCD Bowl on the eve of the Penn State versus UCF game at Croke Park.
In 2016, six high school teams played a triple-header of games at Donnybrook Stadium as an aperitif to the Georgia Tech vs Boston College clash at the Aviva Stadium.