Illinois will play Nebraska in Ireland in '21, and UI AD Josh Whitman said that conversations for the school to play a football game abroad "began almost two years ago," according to Matt Daniels of the Champaign NEWS-GAZETTE. At that time, John Anthony of Irish American Events Limited "approached Whitman about the chance" for the school to play in Ireland. Then came yesterday's announcement of the '21 game at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The Illinois-Nebraska game will be the "second game of a five-game series featuring college football games in Ireland," starting with Navy-Notre Dame on Aug. 29, 2020. Anthony said, "When we were looking for year two, this is where I started. Illinois has so many ties as a university with Ireland. Chicago is about the most Irish city in the country. And it just seemed like a natural place to start this conversation and where we could go with it." A kickoff time for the game "has not been determined yet." But both Whitman and Anthony said that the game will "likely kick off" between 11:00am- 1:00pm CT, "depending on what TV network is broadcasting the game." This "marks the first football game Illinois will play" outside the U.S. (Champaign NEWS-GAZETTE, 10/15).
STUDY ABROAD: Whitman said that traveling with the men's basketball team this summer to Italy for an exhibition tour "convinced him the trip to Ireland would be worth giving up a home game." He added that the partnerships will "help Illinois avoid losing revenue from giving up a home game." A university spokesperson said that the deal guarantees Illinois $1.25M and "covers nearly all travel expenses, including airfare, hotels, food and ground transportation." Illinois will "receive a rebate as ticket sales reach certain thresholds," but IAEL will "collect the ticket revenue" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/15).
I WANNA FLY AWAY: In Lincoln, Matt Olberding in a front-page piece reports some travel agencies are "already capitalizing" on expected demand. Dallas-based Anthony Travel, which is the official travel partner for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic and run by Anthony, was "advertising Ireland travel packages" yesterday morning just minutes after the game was announced. A spokesperson for AAA Nebraska said as soon as the organization learned about the game, "our travel team began sharing ideas on the pre- and post-game activities to help make this a wonderful adventure for our travel clients" (LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR, 10/15).
