As Europe attempt to win a third consecutive Ryder Cup in 2027, 200,000 enthusiastic fans are expected to cheer them on at Adare Manor in Ireland. A big problem arose: There weren’t enough hotel rooms in the area to accommodate all those fans.
To solve the problem, European Ryder Cup organizers are considering a bizarre solution: keeping fans on cruise ships docked near the stadium. This is according to the latest reports from British newspapers the times.
Here’s what we know.
2027 Ryder Cup fans could stay on cruise ships
The 2023 Ryder Cup is the last tournament to be held in Europe and is hosted by Marco Simone. Although as many as 270,000 fans flocked to the stadium that week, the stadium’s proximity to the Italian capital of Rome made spectator logistics relatively simple.
The same goes for this year’s Ryder Cup, held at Bethpage Black near New York City.
But there will be problems with the 2027 Ryder Cup that won’t happen in 2023 and 2025. Adare Manor is a luxury resort whose hotel rooms will likely accommodate the Ryder Cup team on site. But there’s nowhere near enough room for fans.
The resort’s hometown of Adare has a population of just 1,129 people (as of 2019). The larger city of Limerick is nearby, with over 100,000 residents, and will undoubtedly be part of the solution to accommodate hundreds of thousands of golf fans within two years.
But even Limerick’s hotels will not be enough to meet the huge demand for beds in September.
A new report comes from the times Revealing many ongoing plans in preparation for the 2027 Ryder Cup.
the times The report is based on minutes of a meeting of the “steering group for Ireland hosting the event”.
At that meeting, it was revealed that “options for large cruise ships to dock in Foynes are still under consideration” to alleviate the lack of accommodation for spectators in the area.
Foynes is a port city located less than 30 kilometers northwest of Adare Estate. The report also states that accommodation decisions ultimately come down to the European Ryder Cup.
But that’s not the only transportation move for the 2027 Ryder Cup. the times Reports say a “major rail transport scheme” is being considered to transport fans from Limerick to Adare Estate and cruise ships at Foynes.
The Irish government has also approved the “accelerated construction” of the Adare Bypass project, which will build a new road bypassing the village of Adare to improve traffic conditions at the Ryder Cup.
You can read the entire report the times here.
Cruises at sporting and golf events (see: Tiger Woods)
While housing Ryder Cup fans on cruise ships is a novel idea, it’s not entirely unprecedented for athletes to use cruise ships as accommodation at major sporting events.
At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the U.S. men’s and women’s basketball teams stayed on a cruise ship to participate in the Olympics.
