Aer Lingus College Football Classic Ireland: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Aer Lingus College Football Classic Ireland began initially in 1988 as part of a promotional campaign to mark the Dublin millennium celebrations. Dubbed the Emerald Isle Classic, it was the first NCAA-sanctioned American college football game played in Europe. The game was played at Lansdowne Road in Dublin, Ireland in the years 1988 and 1989. The event was first proposed and arranged by Aidan J. Prendergast and Jim O'Brien. Prendergast, who was a former president of the Irish American Football Association conceived the idea of bringing a major NCAA game to Ireland in the mid-1980s and started pitching the idea on both sides of the Atlantic. Prendergast promoted both the 1988 and 1989 games. 

The game was intended as an annual event to attract some of the 40 million Americans of Irish descent back to Ireland. College teams with particularly Irish or Catholic background were chosen in an effort to attract Irish nationals to the games.

Series details

• Title: Aer Lingus College Football Classic Ireland
• Format: Sports
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 2023-08-26
• Status in TVmaze: Running
• Network listed by TVmaze: ESPN
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 210 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 70390

Cast and credited roles

• Dusty Dvoracek — Analyst
• Dave Pasch — Play-by-Play Commentator
• Taylor McGregor — Sideline Reporter
• Mike Monaco — Play-by-Play Commentator
• Jordan Rodgers — Analyst
• Dana Boyle — Sideline Reporter

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 2023: premiered 2023-08-26; final listed air date 2023-08-26; episode order: 1.
• Season 2024: premiered 2024-08-24; final listed air date 2024-08-24; episode order: 1.
• Season 2025: premiered 2025-08-23; final listed air date 2025-08-23; episode order: 1.
• Season 2026: premiered 2026-08-29; final listed air date 2026-08-29; episode order: 1.
• Season 2027: premiered 2027-08-28; final listed air date 2027-08-28; episode order: 1.

Source and licence

Adapted from Aer Lingus College Football Classic Ireland on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.