AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -The proposed game between Georgia Tech and Boston College in Ireland in 2016 is still a possibility, though Boston College athletic director Brad Bates’ comments about it at the ACC spring meetings were hardly an endorsement.
“At this point, I can’t tell you one way or another what’s going to happen,” Bates said. “We have some deadlines in place. Hopefully, we’re going to know something pretty soon.”
However, the fact that the game could still be played is worth noting. The original promoters of the game, the Gaelic Athletic Association, announced in April that it will not host the Croke Park Classic in Dublin in 2016 due to the increased strength of the dollar against the Euro.
It is believed that Boston College has been negotiating with a venue other than the famed Croke Park, operated by the GAA. The association staged a game between Central Florida and Penn State there last year. Navy and Notre Dame played in 2012 in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
One euro was worth $1.14 Thursday, compared to $1.37 a year ago, a 17 percent reduction. It was as low as $1.05 in March, a 23 percent drop.
Expenses likely would include a guarantee to Boston College, which would forego anticipated revenues from a home game, and possibly travel costs for both teams.
Tech athletic director Mike Bobinski said in April that the team is interested in playing in Dublin, which would be its first international competition, but “I don’t think we want to wait a whole lot longer to know what’s going to occur, just because there’s a lot of planning and logistics that go into taking a team overseas.”
The two teams will play Sept. 3 of that year, regardless of whether the game is held in Dublin or Chestnut Hill, Mass.
“We had hoped we could have an announcement last fall during one of our games, to be honest with you, but it just didn’t work out,” Bates said. “So whether it’s going to happen or not at this point, we’ll find out pretty soon.”
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