LONDON (AP) — College football abroad ain’t easy. Brian Dubiski knows.
In 1988, he was a Texas Tech defensive back on a flight to Tokyo preparing to face Barry Sanders and Oklahoma State. Hours after winning the Heisman Trophy, Sanders rushed for 4 touchdowns and more than 300 yards in the Cowboys’ 45-42 victory.
Dubiski is giving it another shot — this time as an executive — by bringing major college football to London for the first time in next month’s Union Jack Classic featuring a Big 12 Conference matchup of Arizona State against Kansas.
“The NFL’s been there for two or three decades now,” Dubiski said. “The appetite is there.”
College football has been played outside the U.S. for more than 100 years, with most of those early games relatively nearby in Canada or Cuba. The first postseson game outside the Americas happened in 1976, according to the NCAA, but of late more games have come early in the season instead of looking more like a nice vacation after the regular season.
The challenge is educating local fans about the differences, like school spirit and marching bands — and getting them to buy tickets.
Dublin offers a template. It’s turned into an annual event with a title sponsor and a travel company as co-organizer. Hordes of Americans arrive and find the Irish capital cozy and welcoming. The latest edition of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic is Saturday when TCU faces North Carolina at Aviva Stadium.
Dubiski, CEO of the Union Jack Classic, said they’re in talks about airline and hospitality partnerships but might not have a title sponsor until next year.
“Year one is always a heavy lift, and so from the aspect of selling tickets to bringing in good partners and doing that sort of thing, it’s been a lot of hard work,” he told The Associated Press. “Everyone likes to be safe from that aspect and (say) ‘let’s see how this really goes down.’”
Still, Dubiski and his partners have a multi-year contract with Wembley and see the Sept. 19 game — Fox Sports’ Big Noon Kickoff is making the trip — as a gateway to Europe.
“Our goal is to expand across other European territories and even look at other sports,” he said, specifying college basketball.
Europe isn’t new to Union Jack Classic organizers. Chief operating officer Thomas Hensey helped promote the World League of American Football, which later became NFL Europe.
Wembley holds more than 86,000, but Dubiski is shooting for 60,000. An estimated 15,000 fans are coming from the U.S., he said, and organizers added ticket discounts on four-packs.
Luck of the Irish for Belichick?
The Tar Heels face TCU in the Dublin game, which has become a Week Zero staple and is just two years removed from Georgia Tech’s upset of No. 10 Florida State.
“There is cachet in playing in Ireland, having an international game,” UNC athletic director Steve Newmark told The AP. “It just draws intrigue, kind of curious onlookers to see Carolina blue and TCU purple playing in Dublin, and everything that goes with it.”
Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes expressed concern, though, about schedule disruption. He cited last year’s bruiser between Iowa State and Kansas State.
“Neither team probably had the kind of season they thought they were going to coming into the game and especially right after the game,” Dykes said. “Both teams did a tremendous job of recovering and playing well at the end of the season, but you could tell it took a toll on both teams.”
Dykes, who expects UNC to make “a tremendous jump” in year two under Bill Belichick, said getting a week off following Dublin was key.
Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia?
Despite enthusiasm for taking games abroad — like to Germany and Brazil — plans sometimes collapse.
Michigan explored playing in Frankfurt against Western Michigan but kept the game in Ann Arbor. Virginia’s game Saturday against Atlantic Coast Conference rival N.C. State was planned for Rio de Janeiro before being relocated back to Charlottesville.
“You need to have a sponsor,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said. “There has to be some support in another country to be able to pull this game together.”
Still, Phillips said, “the international piece is big. We’ve gone to Ireland several times. We want to go to a couple other places. We talked to the Holiday Bowl about maybe going to Saudi Arabia. To sprinkle the college game out internationally is great.”
The 2027 matchup in Dublin is Pittsburgh vs. Wisconsin.
Overspending in Year 1
London game organizer Dubiski says they are “overspending” this time to avoid hiccups.
“We’ve rented out full properties for the teams. We could have just put them in a hotel like normal,” he said. “We’ve rented two triple-seven jumbo jets for each team.”
Dubiski recalled the 1988 trip to Japan for the late-season Coca-Cola Classic as “an amazing experience.”
To entice schools, organizers at a minimum need to replace the home teams’ revenues. The Dublin contract calls for the organizer to run a pep rally and pub tailgates. Hotel rooms and flights are provided with a minimum 300 seats plus 20,000 pounds of equipment.
The NIL space also creates opportunities.
“With the rising importance of NIL revenue for collegiate programs, international games are viewed as a critical area of growth with tremendous upside,” said John Anthony, co-founder of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic and executive vice president of hospitality provider On Location.
TV rights and branding
The Pac-12 has sent teams to Australia, like in 2017 when Stanford routed Rice 62-7. Conference Commissioner Teresa Gould says international makes sense.
“The motivation for it and the reason it’s such an attractive option is international distribution in terms of television and media rights, brand reach and just really providing global exposure for our institutions,” Gould said.
The Big 12 had two schools in last year’s Dublin game, and TCU is in the Irish capital this weekend.
“We have global ambitions as a conference,” Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said. “I do like the NFL model and where they’re going. I like the NBA and where they’re going. There’s a lot of interest in Europe for what we do here at the Big 12.”
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham said “it’s still about 18- to 22-year-olds and their experience in college and the memories they make” and UNC officials noted the value of connections beyond football. Their packed itinerary away from the game includes a medical summit with Irish counterparts.
Rick Wernoski, UNC’s associate vice chancellor for operational excellence, told The AP it’s an opportunity “to showcase Carolina on a global stage.”
“It truly is much more than a game for us,” he said.
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AP Sports writers Aaron Beard in North Carolina, Stephen Hawkins in Texas, and John Marshall in Arizona contributed.
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