The Horned Frogs Coming to Dublin

When Texas Christian University runs out at the Aviva Stadium on August 29th for the 2026 Aer Lingus College Football Classic, it will mark more than just Week Zero of a new season.

For Athletic Director Mike Buddie, it will be a statement about identity, ambition and education — on and off the field.

Buddie was in Dublin yesterday tidying up some of the elements that will lead towards the big game this summer. The game itself is much more, leading out into areas of business, leadership, academic opportunity and a significant tourism boost not only for Dublin but across the country.

16,000 are expected to travel from the US to see the Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina take on the Horned Frogs of TCU, with the balance made up of European and Irish based fans of the sport, spurred by four sell out years since 2022 and boosted by last year’s extravaganza from the BFL of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings.  General ticket sales will begin on March 12th, with Group bookings and a presale period open now.

We had an opportunity to sit with Buddie for a half hour overlooking the stadium yesterday, the result of which will drop later today in the Sport for Business podcast.

Find out more about what we do day in day out at Sportforbusiness.com

We publish a daily news bulletin and host regular live events on a wide range of sporting subjects.

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts from, and look forward to more upcoming chats on leadership and the business of sport.

Our upcoming live events, including our League of Ireland Breakfast at Grant Thornton on February 4th, as well as plenty more, are live on the Sport for Business website, and we'd love to have you join us.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:36

Hello and welcome to the Sport for Business Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Hartnett, and today we are going to the state of Texas in the United States of America. Well, actually, they're coming to us because the Texas Christian University is one of the teams competing in this year's Erlingus College Football Classic, which will be kicking off in the Aviva Stadium on the evening of Saturday, August 29th. The University of North Carolina will be led by NFL legend Bill Belichick, but up against them will be the favored uh TCU. And their athletic director, Mike Buddy, has been in Dublin looking over the bits and pieces that he needs to make sure of before bringing the team over here in a couple of months' time. And we had the opportunity to sit down and have a full and frank conversation about sport, about college life, and about the opportunity that travelling to Dublin presents to the players in his charge. I hope you enjoy it. If you like this and you want to catch up on more from the commercial world of Irish sport, you can do so at sportforbusiness.com. But let's get the conversation with Mike on the way. First of all, welcome to Ireland. Um, thanks for taking the time to have a chat. What I'd like to do is just to have a chat about uh your own history first, and then we'll go into what it's going to be like coming over here to Dublin in August. But uh you've you've been you've been the athletic director there now, really only uh only kind of a wet week. So you joined in in January 2025 when I guess Dublin had already been signed and sealed. You were aware of that coming in?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

No, no, actually, um I got the job, as you said, in January, and John Anthony and I have known each other for a decade, and he called me probably in early March. Okay. And said, hey, I I he had started the conversation with my predecessor, but he kind of just hit pause on it. And he had he had a he had another game I know that he was considering as any good promoter would, having more than one option. Uh, he called me in March, and I quickly called the the chancellor, so my boss at TCU and said, Hey, what do you think about this? Because, you know, giving away a home game is is huge. Uh, and and he was over the moon uh because we want our TCU students to think globally and we want to expand our brand beyond the the state of Texas and outside of the the United States. And so it was a natural fit. And you know, knowing John Anthony and and his company and having watched the games uh that had already been played, you know, it's just a great opportunity. So um, no, it was not baked. I I got a chance to be the one who helped bake it, which was really rewarding for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

That's a that's a big call for the for the new boy in the class.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Yes. And fortunately, we had eight home games, which is unusual in a in a 12-game schedule. You're you're lucky to have seven. You know, a lot most teams have six homes, six away. We actually had eight that year, which is why John thought it might be of interest to us. Uh, and so it it's rare to be able to give a game to a neutral site the way we are here, but still have seven home games for our fans. And that was that made it a little bit easier for the new guy on the block to to make that type of decision.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

And you came in from West Point, so you were you were with Army, um moving then into the the more, I suppose, classically education uh arena. Was it a was it a big move for you? Was it uh was it a real wrench to leave such a you know iconic uh you know program as uh as in West Point?

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Yeah, it was it was very difficult just because you just become a better human every day being around people who have who have given 30 years of their lives to service, and then to be around 4,000 young people who have raised their hand to do the same thing and defend our constitution. Uh, and then, you know, in my realm of college athletics, it was just refreshing to to work with young people who are very coachable, very disciplined, very competitive, um, and you know, and and talented enough to make things interesting, where you know, a lot of times we're undermanned or undersized in the college athletics world, but but we we hold our own. Uh, and so that was that was a great period, you know, five and a half years there. I learned from some great people. Um, and I got to be around just you learn things through osmosis when you're around generals and and colonels in the United States Army. So it was great, but it I also think that there was a shelf life. Um, you know, there's a lot of politics that are involved. And, you know, I I we were there through the COVID era. And so, you know what my sixth football season there, we had a really successful season, and I kind of felt like we had achieved everything that that we could have achieved. Um and it was, you know, it at that point it was just like, hey, will there be an opportunity elsewhere that fits me and my values? And and uh and then the TCU job opened up and it couldn't have been a better opportunity. Where was home originally? Cleveland, Ohio. Okay. Which, you know, is uh is a chilly state. And as a as a baseball player, I wanted to get out of the cold and find somewhere a little bit more warm and uh ended up going to school in the state of North Carolina at a small school called Wake Forest University. Um it was a uh another perfect fit. And that was really what started my uh attraction to to small private school academic focused institutions. And so, you know, that that's that's what I know, that's where I'm comfortable. I went to Wake Forest, I worked at Wake Forest for a decade, and and then I've I've led the Furman University, which is another small private institution, and then West Point and now TCU. So I I I I seem I must have a trend or a type, apparently.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

You you came into the world of sports administration having been a tough athlete. So you pitched for um for New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers in in Major League Baseball. It's not a it's not a terribly well-traveled path. Oftentimes you'll get players that will go in down the coaching route, but into the general manager route in pro sport or into the athletic director, yeah. It's a it's a rarer group.

Pro Athlete To Athletic Director

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah, it's highly uh unusual. I don't know of any other former professional baseball players. There are some uh NFL football players that that have gone into it. And to be honest with you, I I I was my intention was to go the front office like a general manager uh or a coach. And I ended up playing 13 seasons through the minor leagues and the major leagues combined. And by the time I I retired, uh we had two children under the age of four. You know, I had a mortgage. It was unusual to play 13 years in in professional sports, but not have signed a big contract. So I needed to work. Um, and and when I looked back, all of my mentors with the Yankees and the Brewers who stayed in that business were divorced.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

And and then I looked at college coaching and thought, well, they work every night and every weekend. And I just didn't want to be that type of parent that was gonna miss all of those nights and weekends with their kids. And and so I fell into this by accident. I I took a job as a fundraiser at at Wake Forest, where I was um uh a a former baseball player as you as you mentioned, and I didn't know that being a fundraiser was gonna be really important as I matured into the role as an athletic director. But you know, in the world that I live in now, that's really fortunate that I have that as a as a base to help you know raise money, which is the the lifeblood of running an athletic department now.

Competitiveness, Resilience, And Leadership

SPEAKER_04 8:56

It is, and it's one of the things which many of our listeners, at least certainly the in in Ireland, will be less familiar with the fact that, you know, here our colleges, our education system is primarily state funded. So we pay 3,000 euros a year to, you know, to for our kids to be educated. But in the US, the the state funding, the federal funding is kind of zero. So everything depends upon the name, the brand, the recognition, the ability to reach out to your alumni. And so let I'll come back to that on the fundraising side. What was it that you that you learned most, that you took most from being a pro athlete that you still lean on now in your current role?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Uh you know, being competitive, I think, is is really important, um, and being resilient. You know, baseball is a humbling sport. You if you're if you're a Hall of Fame hitter, you you fail 70% of the time. Um, and as a you know, a very average pitcher, you know, I gave up my share of of home runs and and doubles myself. But but you you have to show up the next day and and put that behind you and you be ready to go again. And so, you know, I I do that a lot in in this job. It's a you know, we we do everything we can to advocate for these young people and give them opportunities, but um, there's gonna be challenges along the way, whether that's uh a tough loss or an injury or you know, um losing a recruiting battle. You've just gotta you you you go to plan B and wake up the next day just as committed to finding a way to help them succeed.

NIL, Transfers, And Team Culture

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Okay. Let me try and wrap together that fundraising and the recruitment, because we live in a world now of name, image, and likeness, and the ability for college athletes now to actually make themselves financially independent and then financially, you know, life set up set up for life, that will definitely impact on their choice of college. And when you're talking about the top level, the elite level, um, they're they're they're gonna follow the money. So how how important is that? And you've seen a change over the course of your time. Obviously, coming from West Point, where very different, very, very different, yeah.

Classroom First And Coach As Lecturer

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah, and and and what we what we have trying, what we are doing at TCU um is kind of a hybrid approach where we still want young people who are choosing our university because of our curriculum, because of our academic programs, because of our committed faculty and you know, the and the majors that we offer, because we want our young people to go to class in person, not take online classes so that they can lift weights more throughout the day. Um, but then we also have to sprinkle in some really talented people who started their athletic careers elsewhere and they entered, you know, the transfer portal is what we call it, and they're they're able to leave their school. But um we don't want too many of those because you know it's you know, mercenary is probably a uh too harsh of a word, but sometimes when you just take somebody as as being the highest bidder, um, it can really mess with the chemistry and the locker room and the cohesion of a team. And so we try to to have you know, 60% or 70% of our teams, people who chose TCU out of high school, and they come in as an 18-year-old and they they overcome some adversity and they grow physically, emotionally, uh, you know, intellectually, and then they contribute for two years, you know, their junior and senior years. Um, and then if if if we're lacking at a certain position, then we'll go to the transfer portal and not necessarily take the most physically talented person, but take somebody who's of high character, that's going to be a good teammate, um, who understands their role, and you want them to be additive, not just because of their physical ability, but because of the type of person that they are. And that's there's still a lot of those kids out there, you just have to look a little bit harder. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:14

I think people are sometimes skeptical about how a top college athlete does engage with the academic side of it. But it's encouraging to hear that you're talking about that. And you've even gone one step further in that your head coach is now a lecturer as well. So that he's he's delivering a what is it, a grid iron to the boardroom module?

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah, a leadership, a leadership course. Um and and yeah, Coach Dykes is now Professor Dykes. Um but that's that's what he's committed to. And again, it's there are there are institutions now that that that their student athletes don't physically go to class. And to to us, that's just not what a university experience is about. We want you to be in a classroom with people of different religion, of different sexual orientation, from different parts of the world, not not just different parts of the country, because that's part of your growth as a as a young adult. And so we would never want them to walk away from those classroom experiences where uh that's just not that's not doing them a justice. And I think these young people who go to four different schools over five years, they they just don't have that connection to an institution that that the previous generation for the most part had, because you spend four years there, you know, doing stupid things together and and learning things the hard way and and growing as a human. So uh time will tell the impact that that's gonna have on this generation of of really talented student athletes, but uh we'll see where that where that goes. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:03

So maybe it comes in as part of the fundraising that if you're if you're winning bowls and if you're you know top 10, top 20 in the uh in the country, then that all works into it. Um you're in charge of the overall athletic program. How big is football within that? Because you're very successful in soccer, you're very successful in the in the volleyball as well, and and again, you know, sort of a big player in in basketball. But how how dominant is football when it comes to us?

SPEAKER_00 15:32

It's a big deal. Um and and it was a big deal at at my previous institutions because it unites your fan base. And uh and and now doing it in the state of Texas, um, football is almost a religious experience in Texas. There are high school stadiums in Texas that that aren't considerably smaller than Aviva Stadium. And so uh it's just it's part of the fabric of of that part of the country. And so I spend over half of my time. We we have 22 sports, and I spend over half of my time focusing on one, and that, and that's football. And it's it's it's rep it's resource allocation, it's um, you know, doing fundraising, it's you know, meeting with coaching staffs, uh, analytics, um, all of those things um pretty much on a daily basis are are things that I'm thinking about or working on.

SPEAKER_04 16:30

And the pressure is that every hour you spend on lacrosse or on swimming is an hour that you're not spending on football. I know that you you want to and you have to, um, but there is that inevitable pull.

Logistics Of Bringing TCU To Dublin

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, and and it's really kind of really taken off the the last 20 years or so, to be honest with you, because you know, 20 years ago there was hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake, and now there are billions of dollars at stake. And so, you know, that's part of why we find ourselves in the position we're in where we're now sharing our revenue with the student athletes, because the revenue got so large, and and and in my opinion, some institutions were being so frivolous with it, it just didn't make sense to not share it with the people who are actually doing the work um on Saturdays. And so um that that's still relatively new. Um, but I I kind of I'm I'm different from some of my colleagues because I I think where we're going isn't all bad. Um and again, sharing revenue with these young people is great, but but if if if the if the academic piece is getting lost in the shuffle, then then we're failing. But a lot of these kids, and you know, Indiana is a perfect example. Indiana University has never been historically good at football. Um, they've been excellent these last two seasons, and they have 900,000 living alumni. And all of them are so proud of this this successful team that it just connects that institution. And that's that that's what TCU hopes to do, and that's what you know we all understand that um in today's world, pretending that football success isn't going to help your enrollment and your alumni engagement and your fundraising, well, all of it is impacted by the success of your football team. And so the TCU leadership saw that and and recognized that uh over a decade ago and unapologetically have just come out and said, you know, football and athletic success is going to be key to what we're trying to accomplish.

SPEAKER_04 18:37

Which must be great for you driving into work every morning.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Yeah, absolutely. And and for decades at other institutions, we thought it was clear that there was a positive impact coming from athletic success. But a lot of times in the world of academia, you don't want to admit that um because the you know, faculty want the that you know, the the classroom to be the focal point. And and and certainly I understand why that would be. Um, but you know, I think we have a nice coexistence of of faculty-driven education and getting good kids who can also win football games.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Yeah. And I think you can never overestimate the the fact that academia is uh, you know, it's really important to be very highly regarded within that small sphere of influence. But the world of sport brings in a much larger sphere. And if that spotlight shines additionally on the academic side of it, then that's gonna be a good thing as well. That's exactly right. Football can amplify the message of the institution as well. Yeah. The program has been very successful the last couple of years, two nine win seasons, bowl triumph now in uh in in 2025 as well. You're coming over to Dublin for week zero in 2026. Yes. Um we're here now overlooking the pitch that will be hopefully a sea of purple come uh come come August. What are the what are what's the impact on you from a logistics point of view? Are you overseeing the you know the massive Jenga puzzle that must involve traveling to another country? I'm guessing that probably half of your students need to get passports in order to travel. So I know that you travel long distances playing college games, but this is traveling all the way to Europe. How how much time of yours do you think is that going to take up in the coming months?

Preseason Planning And Cultural Goals

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Um a fair amount, but but not you know, certainly manageable. And I've got you know four or five deputies who who work for TCU as well, who handle a lot of the heavy lifting and the and the details. Um what's unique about this is normally when you go on the road to play a game, the people on the road provide everything that you need. And obviously, coming to come into Dublin, um, you know, there aren't uh a thousand people who know how to do hold the chains on the sidelines. Yeah uh there aren't, you know, people don't know the down in the distance, how to work the clock and all those things. So um so we we get to provide that as the home team, um, which gives us an opportunity to to allow some of our folks who work with us and work for us to have a great experience as well. And and you're exactly right. We we when we unveiled this announcement to the football team, um, you know, John Anthony and I were standing in front of them, and and John said, How many of you have passports? And I thought 80% of them were gonna raise their hand, and it was less than half.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

And so that's to me, again, we talk about educating young people to understand that there's a world outside of the United States, that there's a global um opportunity elsewhere. Um, and to see that, you know, 40% of these kids only had passports, which means 60% of them had. Never been to Canada, let alone to Ireland. Um, and and why else would they get this opportunity as 18 to 22-year-old young men? And and that's what I love about this opportunity. And my wife and I came to the game last year to to get our a lay of the land, and it was our first time to Ireland. And it was just anytime that you get out of your comfort zone and out of your own country uh to see how others potentially view you and see how other people live and and act. And I just think it broadens people's horizons to give them a healthier outlook. And I I'm hoping that that's what we'll be able to bring to the to the young men at from TCU and from North Carolina. And obviously we we need to win the game too.

SPEAKER_04 22:44

Yeah, that's always going to be important. But that that experience, that life experience, we've even seen it over the last couple of years that you'll have, you know, the occasional player that makes it through to the NFL, even to the Super Bowl, that might have played here in their college football, and that was their first overseas trip. And universally they speak very positively about the experience. So we must be doing something good in terms of the Cade Miller Falls. Absolutely. Yeah. Um is there is there a difference in the way that you will set up your preseason now or these blocks? So you'll get the you'll get the team back in, they're doing a lot of their strength and conditioning, they'll be getting to work on the on the pitch and doing to going through their reps, and then you're going to take them out of it and you're going to come over here a week before almost everybody else is doing it. So does that require a lot of planning? Is that part of the process when you say thumbs up or thumbs down to the opportunity?

SPEAKER_00 23:41

It it does. Um, but you know, it's uh college football is is almost a year-round um industry at this point. And so, yeah, we'll start them a little a a week earlier. Um, you know, some teams choose to just come, you know, two days before, play the game and and get out. But, you know, again, that's not the cultural experience that we want them to have. So um, you know, the the time change, you know, is something that that you think about. And so you want to you want to get over here, get their sea legs under them and and walk on the pitch and and get a sense of the stadium. But we also want them to go see the Book of Kells and you know, explore part part of uh uh of the world that they've never had a chance to explore, and to do that with their brothers um will be meaningful. And uh yeah, it's there's some logistical challenges, but it uh nowhere near as positive as the upside of this trip. Nice to have books rather than bars as being the first port of call for the cultural experience.

Local Fan Energy And Family Roots

SPEAKER_04 24:40

They probably might find themselves involved, but yeah, absolutely. Yeah, maybe on the Saturday evening before they before they fly back over. Um you did, you were over here for the g for the game last year. Uh again, I guess it's not unusual that college football, as we see now increasingly, there's more television coverage of us over here as well. It's a very colorful, very noisy, very sort of sort of visceral experience as a fan. Did you find that Dublin was able to match what you're going to be seeing in, you know, in the home home stadium or when you're on your road travels?

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Yeah, it was uh it was interesting because we sat in the middle of the Kansas State section, um, but the row of people in front of us were clearly local, you know, Dubliners. Um and it was just so refreshing because they were enjoying the game. Because I don't they didn't care who won. Yeah. So they were cheering for both teams. Um, they would, you know, cheer for the offense on one play and the defense on the next play, or you just kind of whoever did something that they thought was noteworthy.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Um, and it was just refreshing, which was kind of how I was looking at it, because I didn't have a vested interest in and who I wanted to win the game. And, you know, oftentimes we get so highly competitive, you know, um overly charged, you know, uh excitement at these games. And it every play is do or die when you're so passionate about one of the teams. What I loved about the experience was just the how the local fans embraced the spectacle. They didn't they they didn't care who won. They just they were a part of it. Um and they were, you know, drinking their Guinness and cheering for both teams' quarterbacks. And it was uh by the way, in the rain, you know, for a good portion of the game. And um it it it was refreshing for me to kind of step back and remember that this is still a pretty, pretty fun sport to watch when you can, you know, disassociate the the the feeling of of needing to win.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

Yeah, fingers crossed it will have stopped raining before August. Yeah, we might just get a nice time. We do get them occasionally here. Um, I think you'll be a little bit less chilled probably when you're when when you're back here in in August. You you're over here on a on a familiarization trip now, a few little bit of logistical elements, and then you'll go back. Is that it? Or will you be back over again before August as part of the the promotional push for the for the event?

Closing Notes And Ticket Info

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Um I won't be coming back until the game. Um and so you know, we're the the the purpose of this trip, to be honest with you, for my wife and I, uh my mother side of the family is from Galway. Okay. And so we're doing a little research. And when we come back in August, you know, God willing, my parents and two brothers will be coming, and we're coming a week early as well, so that we can take advantage of of all the great things that that Ireland has to offer and see a little bit more outside of Dublin and then get back into town, you know, by Thursday and and then do the normal game right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:44

Well, Brendan Meehan, who's brilliant, heads up all of the commercial side of it. He's a goal boy himself as well. He mentioned that, yeah. Yeah, he'll be able to he'll be able to give you the lowdown on uh on on where to go and and who to see. Um well look, it's been it's been brilliant chatting to you. Um thanks very much. I gotta be honest, I love the purple vibe that TCU brings. So even though I'm always neutral, uh that just may play into the colours that I might be wearing on the uh on the day come August.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Well, you know, I was thinking uh on the flight over here, again, the the the gentleman that sat in front of us, there there's gonna be some head scratching when they're like, what is a tar heel and what is a hornfrog? You know, and it's it's it's a couple pretty bright pastel colors. You got the purple and the the powder blue. So it'll be uh it'll be a little bit different than Farmageddon was last year with a little bit different.

SPEAKER_04 28:35

They just they just need they need to sign up. You do a great email, your buddy system email. Oh, yes, which talks all about the horn frogs in their wilder existence. And I think if anybody's listening that wants to really sort of get immersed ahead of the uh the big game in August, I think that's a that's a nice email to actually get your hands on. So uh look, thanks again um for taking the time. Very best of luck. Enjoy your couple of days here with your wife and uh enjoy Galway and then hopefully enjoy it when game time comes around here in August.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

I appreciate that. I appreciate your time. It's a pleasure to meet you.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

Great to chat with Mike. And if that excites you and you're interested in coming along to see the Ellingus College Football Classic taking place in Dublin's Aviva Stadium on Saturday, August the 29th, then you can register right away for a pre-sale access code at collegefootballireland.com. Or the tickets will go on general sale on March the 12th via Ticketmaster Ireland. If you're listening to this traveling over from the United States, either from Fort Worth in Texas, or as a supporter of the University of North Carolina, then we look forward very much to welcoming you here and uh giving you a sample of why we consider Ireland to be a pretty good place to come to, and we hope that you will share that view as well. The Sport for Business website is available at sportforbusiness.com where we keep you up to date on every aspect of the commercial world of Irish sport, and the Sport for Business Podcast will be back again next week. So, in the meantime, thank you for taking the time to listen and have a great day.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

It's just, you know, this is the stuff of of dreams.