“That really hurt! Who throws a shoe? Honestly!” — Mike Myers in “Austin Powers”

Throughout college football history, there have been countless examples of teams snatching defeat from the jaws of victory due to some emotional decision. Regret is sewn into the fabric of the sport. But few shenanigans have felt so utterly bizarre, inherently funny and impactful as Marco Wilson’s toss of an LSU player’s shoe in the fourth quarter of a rivalry game on Dec. 12, 2020.

The throw, which came in a tie game against a heavy underdog, certainly cost Florida a win. It might, too, have kept the Gators from the College Football Playoff. And the play proved a turning point in the history of a once-proud Florida program that spent much of the next five years adrift in a sea of mediocrity.

It was a moment that, five years later, still begs the same question: Who throws a shoe?

ESPN spoke with more than a dozen players, coaches and broadcasters from the 2020 showdown between the Gators and Tigers to find the real story.

Marco Wilson, Florida defensive back: I’ve been through harder times. Way harder than what I went through with that shoe. That shoe was just broadcast around the internet.

Derek Ponamsky, special assistant to LSU coach Ed Orgeron: How do you throw the frickin’ shoe?

Sean McDonough, ESPN broadcaster: None of us had seen it before, none of us have seen it since, and I doubt we ever will again.

T.J. Slaton Jr., Florida defensive lineman: Bad or good, it doesn’t matter. It’s memorable.

It was 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rigors of the season had already taken their toll on many players and coaches.

Wilson: It was a lot of stress that year — the COVID stuff. Your schedule’s changing. I’m stressing about trying to make it to the NFL. That was my main goal. I wasn’t playing the best through that year. It was, “Man, am I going to get drafted?”

Ponamsky: One of the most intimidating places to play in all of college football is The Swamp, and usually there’s 3,000 people directly behind your bench leaning over the railing. But because it was a COVID game, there was nobody there.

Brad Johnson, former FSU QB and father of Max Johnson: They had those cardboard pictures cut out instead.

Jack Marucci, LSU director of athletic training: We almost didn’t have enough scholarship players to play, because we’d contact traced so many players. We were playing walk-ons, freshmen that weren’t supposed to play. They were all out there.

Florida entered the game ranked sixth nationally, a spot in the SEC title game already secured and a berth in the College Football Playoff still up for grabs. LSU was just a year removed from a national championship, but this had been a disastrous season of injuries and opt-outs.

Cade York, LSU kicker: We were just getting beaten down that season. First game after that championship you get beat by Mississippi State throwing 500 yards of Air Raid on you, and it’s like, “What the heck?”

McDonough: LSU was a mess. They were a 23-point underdog.

Max Johnson, freshman LSU QB making his first start vs. Florida: We had to show some fight and belief in each other, because you weren’t getting praise from anybody else. It did feel like us vs. the world.

Ponamsky: Our young guys showed confidence and composure, and that team on the other sideline, they didn’t. It felt like they treated us like a nonconference homecoming.

Wilson: We had our eyes on the SEC championship. Their record wasn’t the best, but we still needed to take it seriously and lock in. That’s a rivalry game. I don’t care if their record was 0-10. It don’t matter. They’re the LSU Tigers and they don’t like the Florida Gators. You’ve got to know what they’re coming with.

Louis Bourgeois, LSU equipment manager: When we play Alabama — people look at that as a rivalry, but that’s two teams that respect each other well enough and line up and play football and get after each other. Florida is the most trash-talking I’ve ever been a part of year after year.

Lee McGriff, Florida radio analyst: I don’t call it respectful. You play Alabama and Auburn and Georgia, there’s some dignity. LSU’s a little rogue.

Scott Stricklin, Florida athletic director: [Florida coach] Dan Mullen was not really excited about playing the game, because we were banged up, too. [Tight end] Kyle Pitts probably could’ve played, but we held him out to make sure he was rested for the championship game.

Kyle Pitts, Florida tight end: I was concussed. It would’ve been a little on the riskier side to play that game. Whether we won or lost, we thought it was better to prepare for Alabama in the following week. You get one brain.

Without Pitts, Heisman candidate Kyle Trask struggled early, and Florida endured a string of unlikely miscues to fall behind 24-17 at the half.

Stricklin: Everyone talks about Marco and the shoe. There were so many opportunities for us to take care of business and random stuff would happen. We kicked a field goal inside their 10, made the kick, there was a penalty on them that gave us a fourth-and-goal from the 1. We took the points off the board and went for it and got stopped. There were some random interceptions that Kyle Trask doesn’t normally throw. Just random you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me moments.

Ponamsky: There’s an interception where Dwight McGlothern and Jay Ward tip it around, and it’s one of the craziest plays you’ve ever seen.

Jay Ward, LSU defensive back: [The Florida receiver] hit the ball. I tried to dive and hit it. I went out of bounds, but I reestablished myself. And [McGlothern] tipped it back in off his helmet.

This Jay Ward INT is absolutely wild. #LSU with their second pick of Trask. pic.twitter.com/d4X8QDdf6G

— Garland Gillen (@garlandgillen) December 13, 2020

York: The whole game we kept having big plays that kept us in it. I think it was kind of pissing Florida off.

Wilson: I told Eli Ricks he played a whole part into why I threw that shoe. He made a pick-six in that game, and he made a hell of a play, but on the way to the end zone, he taunted our quarterback. He turned and walked slow and looked back at him. I lost it on the sideline. That’s the moment I lost it. I turned to my teammates, like, “We’re not doing this, bro. It’s my last game in The Swamp, and look at what they’re out here doing. We’re not going out like that.” I was just seeing red from that point on.

Florida took a 31-27 lead entering the fourth quarter, but before chaos ensued, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium had to set the stage.

Ponamsky: The first time we go [to Florida] with Coach O as the head coach was in 2017, and it was their first game right after Tom Petty passed away. Coach O loves Tom Petty, and one of his favorite songs is “I Won’t Back Down.” In the fourth quarter, they start playing it. “Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out.”

Marucci: We talked about it a lot. The whole stadium was singing. It’s a neat experience.

Ponamsky: Coach O told the team [before the 2020 game], game’s going to be won in the fourth quarter. They’re going to start the fourth quarter playing Tom Petty. “Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out.” And when they started playing it that night, he looks over at Jack Marucci and says, “Jackie, we ain’t backing down.”

York: They played their song, their Swamp song, and just as the music starts, this thick layer of fog rolls in.

Bourgeois: It was a struggle to even see the other sideline.

Josh Hoffman, ESPN producer: It really made it so any camera above field level saw only fog.

Todd McShay, ESPN sideline reporter: The fog comes in, and Sean and Todd [Blackledge] are having trouble seeing, so I kind of became a pseudo weather man reporter down on the field. It was this fishbowl of fog and this eerie feeling, and the fog kept building.

McGriff: Trask was so good that season, and eventually he got it under control [vs. LSU]. I felt confident we were coming back. And so here’s the drive, and we make the stop. I just thought, “Here we go. Trask and the offense are going to go win the game.” And then it happens. Marco Wilson.

With the score tied at 34 with 1:51 to play, LSU faced a do-or-die third-and-10 from its own 29. Johnson dropped back to pass, surveyed the field and found his roommate, freshman tight end Kole Taylor.

Max Johnson: People think without the shoe we wouldn’t have won. It was still 34-34. Don’t get me wrong, it changed the game. But gosh, that play — we called it “Hank.” It was a curl flat with a hook in the middle of the field.

Brad Johnson: No one was open. Max dropped it off to Kole Taylor in the flat, and he got tackled short of the first down.

Max Johnson: Looking back, I could’ve thrown the curl backside to Kayshon Boutte. Do I regret what happened? No. But process-wise, I should’ve thrown the curl.

Wilson: We were in a Cover 2. I’m covering the flat. Tight end got the ball right to the flat. Soon as I saw it, I go. He tried to hurdle me, and that’s when I grabbed his legs. As he went down, his shoe slipped off.

Kole Taylor, LSU tight end: We were just trying to get to the sticks on third-and-long, not a typical dump-down scenario, but he ended up dumping it down to the flat. I tried to make a little play and tried to go over [Wilson] and realized there was too many people coming. I kept it low. I didn’t even realize what had happened until I got up.

Stricklin: I’m on the sideline, but you can’t see great. And after the stop, I remember seeing a flash of color go hurtling across the field. And I was like, “What was that?”

Marucci: The shoe actually came right at us. You could see it. We were yelling, “He threw the freakin’ shoe!”

Hoffman: [McShay] hit his talk-back to me and said, “He threw his shoe, he threw his shoe!”

McShay: I said there was a shoe flying in the air, and they’re like, “What are you talking about?” All I saw was an arm from a player go up, and this cleat is traveling 15, 20 yards in the air.

Marucci: We didn’t spat (tape shoes) much back then. The next year, [Taylor] got spatted. If he did that, this would’ve never happened. I wasn’t big into spatting unless they needed it for injuries. He had a low-top shoe that got ripped off.

Wilson: Some fans think I went and grabbed the shoe off the ground. That would be stupid. I’d have told myself that was stupid to go find the shoe, grab it and then throw it. No, I made the tackle, and as soon as he’s on the ground, I look, I see the sticks, we’re off the field, I’m excited, and — boom. I’ve got a purple and gold shoe in my hand. I’m hype. Like, “Get off our field.”

Slaton: He realized he had a f—ing shoe in his hand and is like, “Get this shoe out of here.” What if he’d had the ball and did that? He was just hyped.

Taylor: I stood up and put my foot on the ground, and it was cold. I was like, “That’s weird.” I looked down and didn’t have a shoe. And then within a half a second, one of our equipment managers is running up to me like, “I’ve got your shoe.” And I’m like, “Where was it?”

Bourgeois: You never run onto the field, but everybody was celebrating, so I ran out and grabbed the shoe, and I’m like, “Kole, you have to put this back on. We still have football to play.” I threw it at him, and I ran back off the field. In the fog, nobody’s going to see that.

York: Everyone turned away and was like, “Ah crap.” I remember our punter getting ready to go out, and I saw the ref reach into his back pocket and was like, “No way.”

Referee James Carter initially flagged the wrong player — Florida linebacker Mohamoud Diabate — but the more memorable part of his announcement to the crowd was the specificity: “Unsportsmanlike conduct. … Throwing the LSU player’s shoe 20 yards down the field.”

Brad Johnson: You’re wondering what is the flag? You thought like, “Is somebody giving him the business?” And then they say he threw the shoe 20 yards down the field. That’s what he said! No one’s ever seen a shoe thrown in a game. You’ve had late hits, throwing the helmet, gouging guys’ eyes out. You have stuff — but never a thrown shoe.

Marucci: Those shoes are light. [Taylor] was more of a receiver than a true tight end, so they wear those lighter shoes — and that thing comes flying in the air. It really was 20 yards.

McDonough: If he threw it 12 yards, is it still a penalty?

Wilson: He said the wrong number, too. My homie Mohamoud — he gave his number, 11.

McShay: I looked over at the sideline and I’m like, “No, they’re yelling at Marco Wilson,” and he’s got his head down, dejected.

Wilson: Honestly, I regretted it right after I did it. You’ll see, my arms are, like, oh, I messed up. I immediately knew I was in the wrong.

McGriff: It was the right call. I know everybody’s tried to rationalize it, but it was the right call, and it was a back-breaking moment.

Taylor: Once-in-a-lifetime scenario. Looking back, I don’t know if it’s funny. It’s not funny to a lot of people, but looking back I can laugh about it.

Wilson’s blunder is what’s remembered, but the score was still tied after the penalty. The flag gave LSU a new set of downs, and a Johnson scramble and a Chris Curry run got the ball into Gators territory. Then the drive stalled again, and LSU turned to York to attempt a 57-yard field goal for the lead.

York: I could not see the uprights past the crossbar. It was just the bottom of the uprights. It wasn’t bad until they started flashing the LED lights. They’d fill up the fog — the water molecules or whatever the science is on that. It was blinding.

Taylor: Kicking it in the fog, he did a great job.

York: They iced me, which made no sense, because honestly, [LSU coaches] called the field goal team out too late and it was kind of rushed. The line wasn’t getting set. And they had me on the left hash.I don’t know what happened when they respotted it [after the timeout], but they put it left-middle of the field.

Max Johnson: I don’t even think I watched it. I put my head down and was like, “OK. If you make it, you make it, and if not, I’m ready to go.”

York: Right off the foot I knew it was in. Everyone else was turning and watching and probably trying to find the ball in the fog. But seeing it off my foot and the feeling it has, it was so good.

Bourgeois: I couldn’t even see if the field goal was good or not. Usually you can tell by the crowd reaction, but you couldn’t see them either. And there was nobody in there to even listen to.

York: I just took off on a dead sprint to the end of our sideline doing the Gator chomp. I look back at it, and it 100% should’ve been a penalty. It 100% was taunting. It wasn’t like the game was over and it was a walk-off.

Brad Johnson: It’s 37-34 with 23 seconds to go, and it’s like, “OK we’ve got this.”

Max Johnson: I thought the game was over then. I see [offensive lineman] Austin Deculus running down the field. He’s going crazy. Then I realize there’s still time. We have to kick off and stop them. They make the throw to Kadarius Toney and he makes, like, six guys miss and get down the field. They go to Evan McPherson, and this guy’s a baller.

York made his kick, but after Florida drove 42 yards on four plays, McPherson had a chance to tie it with a kick from 51 yards out.

Stricklin: Evan’s a real dude. He’s made kicks to go to the Super Bowl. He’s as good a college kicker as I’ve ever been around, and he missed one.

Evan McPherson, Florida kicker: I hit it perfect. I started celebrating, low-key. Trotting, side-stepping toward our sideline.

Brad Johnson: You cannot see the kick, because of the fog, so you’re waiting for the announcement to be made, because you can’t even see the signal of the referee.

McShay: Florida’s sideline initially thought it was good. Some of their players were starting to cheer. And I’m like, “No he missed the kick.” The whole thing was just chaos.

McPherson: I’m watching it and it keeps drawing and keeps drawing, and I’m like, “Why’s it doing that?” And then right at the last second, it sneaks outside the upright. If I didn’t look up, I’d have thought I made it. I was shocked.

LSU won the game 37-34 in one of the most stunning upsets of 2020. For a team that had endured so many setbacks, it was a moment of ecstasy.

Ponamsky: I remember vividly [DBs coach] Bill Busch getting off of the golf cart on the field and screaming, “How you like that? How you like that?” I’ll never forget that as long as I live, because nobody thought we had a chance. We were being fed to the lions. But that team was motivated and prepared.

Marucci: I was at Florida State when Bobby Bowden was at his peak. I’ve seen a lot of good teams and four national championships, but that game there — it was up there, man. It was just electric. We had no business going down there and winning. It was like winning a championship.

Ward: We went crazy in the locker room. Everybody was turnt.

Taylor: We get in there and one of our O-linemen yells out, “Kole’s shoe won us the game,” and we start celebrating. It was awesome.

Max Johnson: Oh my gosh, that was when “The Griddy” was big, so we were all hitting “The Griddy,” playing the songs. It was awesome. I went into my press conference, and I was so bad, so serious. I didn’t show any emotion, my actual excitement and joy. I wish people could’ve seen more emotion from me at that moment.

York: My dad was at some sports bar in Frisco, Texas, watching the game. I get outside the stadium and I get a call, and he’s like, “Hey someone wants to talk to you.” This guy says his name, and I have no idea who it is. He’s like, “I was watching you kick. It’s so cool. I’m here with your dad.” OK, whatever. He gives the phone back to my dad, and I’m like, “Why are you having me talk to random people?” And he says, “Do you know who that was?” I had no clue. He’s like, “That was the Wu-Tang Clan.” They were randomly watching the game with him.

In Florida’s locker room, the scene was far different.

Wilson: I knew right when we didn’t make the tying field goal, I was like, “This is mostly on me.” It’s never 100% on me. It’s a team sport. But I was like, “Damn, I played a big part in this loss, and I’ve got to take accountability for that.”

McDonough: It wasn’t just bizarre, it was game-changing for sure. And it’s too bad because that’s what I remember him for. He was a very good player. He still is a very good player. But whenever his name comes up, that’s still the first thing I remember.

Pitts: We still had to go play the next week. If we’d won, it would’ve been a totally different story, and everyone would’ve forgotten that.

Wilson: I don’t think people understand what that’s like. I’m going through my phone, and it’s bugging out from how many messages I’m getting. There’s not a lot of people who’ve been through stuff like that. And every message I’m getting is negative.

Slaton: You can’t blame one thing. There have been crazier things happen [in a game] and people still win.

McGriff: I certainly understand when there’s emotion and all of that flowing that sometimes guys, since the beginning of time, can temporarily lose their mind. So Marco makes a play, and he loses his mind, and I have to admit, I’ve never seen anybody take a guy’s shoe off and throw it.

Stricklin: I knew that wasn’t what cost us the game. It contributed. But there were a lot of things. And I felt bad he was catching the brunt of all of it. I always thought he was a guy who represented us in a good way.

Wilson: If you look at social media, everyone was like, “I’d kick this guy’s ass in the locker room.” But as soon as I got to the locker room, my teammates, they understood what I was going through. I’m getting yelled at on the sideline by some of the fans. I had some teammates telling them to chill. People were pulling up to my house the next day to make sure I’m cool. I felt a lot of love. Dan Mullen, right after the game, he spoke to me, and he wasn’t drilling me or tearing me down and making me feel worse. That’s what I really needed at the time. My whole family was at that game, including my grandma. Everyone surrounded me and helped me get through these emotions. If I was by myself, it would’ve been a lot harder to go through.

Wilson’s blunder had a clear effect on the game’s outcome, but what’s more controversial is the theory that the game spawned Florida’s immediate downfall. From the start of 2015 through the prior week’s action, Florida had won 42 of its past 59 games. In the 56 contests since, including the shoe throw, the Gators are 26-30. (Note: Mullen, defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and LSU coach Ed Orgeron declined interview requests for this story.)

McPherson: It was a big game for us at the time. If we win that one, we finish the year out right and, win or lose against Bama in the championship, we could sneak in [to the playoff]. Instead we ended up in the Cotton Bowl, and everybody opted out, and we got smoked.

McDonough: There was already a buzz the end of the Coach O era might be coming, but you certainly didn’t at the time think it was the beginning of the end for Dan Mullen.

McGriff: There were times where you could see a lack of discipline and then after that — to me, the crowning blow was the Cotton Bowl. I didn’t understand Coach Mullen’s approach to that game, his schemes, what he was trying to do. He’s really good at that — but not that day.

Slaton: People talk about how we went 0-3 after that and didn’t get into the playoff. They went with Ohio State instead of us even though Ohio State only played like five games. They made the call, they said, “Ohio State,” and they slept well that night. I didn’t.

Stricklin: We weren’t as successful after that. Usually people look at the symptoms and not the issues. What happened with Marco was a symptom of other things. There was a bit of looseness that year from being accountable and the discipline piece that had not been there in the past. And once you let that slip, it’s hard to get back. And I think a lot of it had to do with the COVID environment where everybody was just like, “Let’s get to the game.” It snowballed on us, to be honest, beyond that year. That game kind of triggered it. You can put a pin on that date.

Wilson: They try to blame the whole downfall on me. Honestly, it wasn’t going how it should have been going for the Gators for a while, even before me. Florida was always defense, and after [Will] Muschamp, that started going down. They lost that Gator tradition.

The enduring image from LSU 37, Florida 34 is Wilson’s shoe throw, which was immortalized in internet memes almost instantly, but the story has lived on — even reaching the locker room of the Cincinnati Bengals, where for a few months this offseason, Wilson and Taylor were teammates, alongside Slaton and McPherson, too.

Wilson: The President Bush [meme] is usually the funniest. I like that one. I see the “Austin Powers” one all the time, but it’s not as funny. It’s too obvious.

Taylor: For about a year or two, I got, “You’re the shoe guy.” That was interesting. I didn’t love being called the shoe guy. It would’ve been better to be LSU tight end.

Wilson: I laugh even when someone comes up to me on the street and says something or on Twitter. If it’s a funny joke, I’ll respond to it. But if you come at me saying, “Oh you suck and we hate you for what you did,” it’s like, get over it, bro. But if you want to joke about it, cool.

Taylor: I actually didn’t realize until a couple weeks in [to camp] it was actually a thing. I saw the name Marco, and I recognized the name, and I was like, “Oh my gosh he’s on the team with us.”

Slaton: I was like, “Marco threw your shoe?” And he says, “Yeah that was me.”

Taylor: It’s not something I want to bring up to [Wilson.] I’ll let him approach me about it.

Wilson: I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to buy that cleat.

Taylor: I don’t have them. I don’t know where they are. I got into the locker room [after the win], and they immediately took my shoes.

Bourgeois: It’s not normal for us to take [shoes], but we grabbed it [after the game] and took it over to the win trunk. There’s a “win bar” everybody touches on their way to the field, just like at Tiger Stadium. We bring a little version of that on the road with us. We brought it by the win bar to take a picture, and then it’s like, “Ah we’ll keep this.” We haven’t touched them. It’s still got the blue paint all over them and the grass on the bottom. They’re still in the moment.

If the shoes remain stuck in time, Wilson has moved on. He has had a successful NFL career, and he has used his moment of infamy to fuel his journey as a pro. But the lesson of that game — that, in football, anything can happen — is one that’s stuck with nearly everyone involved.

McShay: I did 150, 200 games, and not one single game was as memorable as that one.

Wilson: You realize who’s got your back and who really doesn’t like you either, who’ll talk crap about you in the group chats.

Stricklin: Marco was a really good football player for the Gators, and it’s a shame that’s what comes to mind when you think of him, because he was a part of a lot of success here.

Max Johnson: I didn’t realize at the time how big it would be for college football. I was so ready to play that I didn’t even think twice about the shoe.

Taylor: It was an interesting way to go viral. It’s something I’ll tell my kids and my grandkids.

Wilson: People who aren’t in that situation may feel like it’s the end of the world, but you’re going to face adversity no matter what you do, and it was good for me to face adversity when I was 21 or 22 years old. I was immature, and it’s a crazy amount of feelings you go through. It’s good to see you can go through some serious situations and still get to the other side and see the better side of it. It was a knucklehead move at the time, but I’ll always stand up and say it was passion. I was a passionate person then, and I’m a passionate person now. That wouldn’t happen now, but you’ll always see that type of energy from me on the field because I love the game.

Kansas State star tailback Dylan Edwards has been cleared to play in Friday night’s game at Arizona, sources told ESPN.

Edwards’ expected return comes after he suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter against Iowa State in Week 0 and missed subsequent games against North Dakota and Army.

He had been considered 50-50 to play this week by coach Chris Klieman.

Edwards, a junior, brings a dynamic element to Kansas State. He averaged 7.4 yards per carry last season and returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown in Kansas State’s 31-7 win over Arizona. He is also an attractive option in the passing game, as he has 55 career receptions from his time at Kansas State and his freshman season at Colorado.

Kansas State is 1-2, having lost to Iowa State in Dublin and getting upset by Army on Saturday. The Wildcats rank No. 112 in the country in rushing offense with 109 yards per game.

Tailback Joe Jackson is Kansas State’s leading rusher with 136 yards on 30 carries. Quarterback Avery Johnson is next with 18 carries for 78 yards.

Arizona (2-0) brings a strong run defense, ranking 35th nationally by giving up 91.5 yards per game. The Wildcats have allowed just 3.05 yards per carry.

Dublin would continue hosting an annual college football game through 2037 under a plan awaiting formal approval in the Irish capital, organizers told The Associated Press.

The Week 0 game in Dublin has become a fixture on the college football calendar and typically attracts well over 20,000 fans traveling from the United States in a boost for Irish tourism.

“The biggest brands in college football are interested in this,” said John Anthony, co-founder of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic and executive vice president of hospitality provider On Location. “They text me, they ask me about it, ‘What years are open?'”

The plan awaits final endorsement of Irish governmental bodies, said Anthony, who co-founded the event with Irish restaurateur Padraic O’Kane.

An estimated 22,900 fans traveled from the United States to see Iowa State — now ranked No. 14 — beat Kansas State 24-21 on Aug. 23 at Aviva Stadium. Attendance was 47,226.

Next year’s game — a rematch between TCU and North Carolina, allowing Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels to seek revenge for their 48-14 loss two weeks ago — will be the fifth in what was originally a five-game contract that has already been extended by two years.

The 2027 matchup has been announced as Pittsburgh vs. Wisconsin.

“The extension through 2037 we would expect will be all signed off on next month,” Anthony told the AP.

Failte Ireland, the government’s tourism authority, said in a statement there is currently “no agreement or contract” beyond 2028. But Anthony said the deal is at “an advanced stage with public and private stakeholders” and that a formal announcement “is expected in due course.”

The Notre Dame game against Navy two years ago brought 40,000 U.S. fans to Dublin. Thousands of them arrive on travel packages that include visits in other Irish cities.

While not hugely lucrative for the schools, “they come out better than they would have if they’d have played the game as it was scheduled at home,” Anthony said.

The big benefits, he said, are “unmatched exposure for their brand,” connectivity with their fan and donor base and TV viewership in the U.S. For the athletes, it’s a unique experience and in the ever-evolving NIL space possibly a future financial opportunity.

Aer Lingus did not comment on the proposed extension but previously described the games as a big success.

“The popularity of the series is incredible for Ireland and also for Aer Lingus, as it increases our brand recognition in the U.S., our key market,” Susanne Carberry, the airline’s chief customer officer, told the AP ahead of the August game.

Dublin started hosting games decades ago but only recently has it turned into an annual event.

In 1988, Boston College beat Navy 38-24 in the Emerald Isle Classic, which featured Pittsburgh and Rutgers the following year. Notre Dame played Navy two other times — in 1996 and 2012. Games were also staged in 2014 and 2016.

The German city of Frankfurt is in discussions to host Michigan‘s scheduled Aug. 29 game next season against Western Michigan. It would take place at Deutsche Bank Park, which has also hosted two NFL regular-season games.

“We know there’s competition coming,” Anthony said. “They’re all looking at what’s going on in Dublin and saying they want in on some of that. I look at it as a rising tide.”

Michigan, which already works with On Location, has asked the company to handle its Germany game.

“They have asked us to be their partner on it,” Anthony said. “We may not be owning and operating that game like we do in Ireland, but from the hospitality, from the team services, and how to operate and maximize an international football game, On Location is very much a partner of that game as well.”

The NFL will bring its product to Dublin too, when the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 28 at Croke Park in what will be the first regular-season NFL game in Ireland.