Purdue football in Ireland? Maybe one day
Purdue football in Ireland. Is that a possibility?
“I think against the right opponent, in the right year,” Purdue AD Mike Bobinski told GoldandBlack.com. “We have had conversations. I don’t know that we’ve had it since Coach (Ryan) Walters has taken over. But when Jeff (Brohm) was here, he and I chatted about it. He was all for it.”
Northwestern and Nebraska played each other in Dublin, Ireland, in August last season to kick off their 2022 seasons, with the Wildcats taking a 31-28 decision. Navy and Notre Dame are slated to face-off in Dublin on August 26, 2023.
“Nebraska and Northwestern were overwhelmingly positive about the experience,” said Bobinski. “They said from an athlete, coach, play-ability of the whole deal, the cultural opportunities, just exposing their players and teams to a new country and really getting a chance to do some unique things and from a fan base perspective, it was a winner all the way around.”
Purdue never has played a football game outside the United States.
“At some point in time, would we be willing to consider that?” said Bobinski. “I would, yes. I think it would be a really unique situation for our players, for our fan base, for everybody to experience something different.”
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But, as of this moment, there is nothing in the works for Purdue to play in Ireland.
“Nothing imminent,” said Bobinski.
If Purdue ever had a game in Ireland, it likely would need to play a big brand. And that could mean Purdue having to give up a home game vs., say, Ohio State or Michigan to play them in Ireland. Would Bobinski be willing to forgo a game in West Lafayette?
“That’s a very good question,” he said. “You couldn’t make any sense of it in certain years. You would have to fit it into the overall competitive and economic balance of your schedule. I wouldn’t say an absolute, ‘Of course, we would’ or I wouldn’t say an absolute ‘No, we wouldn’t.’ But it would just have to make sense. You’d have to do a lot deeper analysis on it.”
