Touchdown with Aer Lingus

#TRAVELTRADETOGETHER

Marian Benton and Don Shearer (Travelbiz) teamed up with trade and media partners for a truly memorable day and night thanks to our hosts in Aer Lingus, Chicago’s North Shore, Choose Chicago, Tony Lane and the Visit USA team in Ireland.

American Football came to town last weekend and what a show they put on! The Northwestern Wildcats and the Nebraska Cornhuskers played their opening game of the 2022 season in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, in front of a crowd of over 40,000 fans. The atmosphere was electric.  Nebraska were favourites to win and led most of the game but Northwestern just edged it with the final score 31 – 28.

Both teams had legions of fans to support them and The East Stand was a sea of red (Nebraska’s colours), a testament to how many Americans travelled here for the game. They brought with them the full American Football experience with marching bands, cheerleaders and a half time show, the highlight of which was when the two marching bands combined to play a rousing version of the Fields of Athenry with everyone in the stadium joining in.

Our day was organised by Tony Lane of Woodstock Communications on behalf of Aer Lingus, Chicago’s North Shore, Choose Chicago and Visit USA.  We started with a tailgate party (the name taken from the American tradition of having picnics in the car park prior to games.  In the past they used the fold down back of their trucks as the table hence the name.  Ours was in the far more salubrious surroundings of BrewDog Outpost but with the traditional fare of burgers, wings, fries, pizzas and beer. We were joined by our hosts Bill Byrne (VP North America &Director Global Sales Aer Lingus), Jenny Rafter and Ivan Beacom (Aer Lingus), Gina Speckman (Chicago North Shore) and Naomi Hattori (Choose Chicago).

They each took time to welcome us and talk to us about the wonderful range of products on offer in their region.

Sufficiently fed and watered we were transported to the Aviva Stadium in style in a Barbie pink stretch hummer – it was quite the ride!

The game was part of the Aer Lingus College Football Series and is the first in a 5 year commitment to host games in Dublin.  Can’t wait for this time next year when Notre Dame (the Fighting Irish) meet Navy (the Midshipmen) here!