Mexico to stage 1st regular season game outside US
Organizers are hoping to attract a record 105,000 crowd to Mexico’s Azteca stadium when the San Francisco 49ers play the Arizona Cardinals in October, the first regular season NFL game outside the United States.
San Francisco safety Tony Parrish said his team were pumped up about the contest on Sunday October 2.
“This game right here is going to be all business,” Parrish told a news conference on Friday. “I’ve never played in front of that many people and I’m excited about that.”
The Azteca stadium, which normally hosts soccer matches and rock concerts, holds the record for an NFL game after 112,376 people watched the Dallas Cowboys lose 6-0 to the Houston Oilers in a pre-season American Bowl game in 1994.
More: today.reuters.com
Football: Mexico City to stage NFL game
merican 'tackle' football is coming to Mexico. The National Football League (NFL) announced the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers would play the first regular-season contest outside the United States on October 2nd.
If the game is well received, it could mean more NFL games played outside the United States.
The league will evaluate all of the markets that have indicated an interest in hosting games around the world, including several in Europe, Canada, Asia, according to Roger Goodell, the league's executive vice president.
Goodell spoke at a news conference to talk about the
Tagliabue pumped about game in Mexico
Expansion to Mexico still is a generation away despite the success of the NFL’s first regular-season game staged outside the United States.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the Arizona Cardinals’ 31-14 victory over the 49ers in Mexico’s capital lent credibility to the league south of the border. A record 103,467 fans packed cavernous Azteca Stadium on Sunday night, the largest regular-season crowd in NFL history.
But Tagliabue said the size of the crowd wasn’t the key factor.
“I think this game lets the fans here in Mexico, the athletes here in Mexico and businesses and everybody else know that
NFL - 49ers, Cardinals set for historic Mexico trip
Sunday 2nd October 2005 will be a momentous date in the 86-year history of the NFL, as it will be the date of the first ever regular season game to be played outside the United States.
The San Francisco 49ers will take on the Arizona Cardinals at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, with a crowd of 85,000 expected.
The event is part of Hispanic Heritage Month, and could pave the way for further games to be held outside the USA, including a proposed game in London.
The game will be broadcast by 18 broadcasters
History to be made in Mexico City
For the first time in the 86-year history of the National Football League, a regular-season game will be played outside the United States when the Arizona Cardinals face the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday night in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca.
The game, which coincides with the nation's annual celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, will be televised nationally in the United States by ESPN and ESPN Deportes, and by Televisa in Mexico. Westwood One Radio will broadcast the game in English and Spanish. Kickoff is at 8:30 p.m. ET and a sold-out crowd of 85,000
No more NFL in Mexico after 49ers-Cards?
Don't expect the NFL to stick around Mexico very long after Sunday's game between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers, the first regular-season game played outside the United States.
NFL Mexico, which oversees the sport in this country, says it has no plans to push for a team anytime soon. It appears content to follow the lead of the NBA and Major League Baseball, which played games that counted in Mexico in years past, but haven't seriously considered sanctioning Mexican franchises.
"A franchise in Mexico, it's not a priority for the short or medium term,"
Cooperation is key for Mexico, U.S. game wardens
Game wardens from Mexico will join U.S. game wardens on Thursday to observe how enforcement is done here at the annual dove opener in Imperial Valley.
Lt. Joe Brana, a 26-year veteran of the Department of Fish and Game based here, said one or possibly two Mexican game wardens will ride along with his opening-day enforcement team of state and federal game wardens. Dove season opens Thursday, with shooting time set for 5:47 a.m.
"I'm looking forward to it because it's something we've never tried before," Brana said.
It's all part of
NFL to Make Short-Lived Visit to Mexico
Don't expect the NFL to stick around Mexico very long after Sunday's game between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers, the first regular-season game played outside the United States.
NFL Mexico, which oversees the sport in this country, says it has no plans to push for a team any time soon. It appears content to follow the lead of the NBA and major league baseball, which played games that counted in Mexico in years past but haven't seriously considered sanctioning Mexican franchises.
"A franchise in Mexico, it's not a priority for the short
In Mexico, NFL has untapped market
Tony Parrish, the 49ers defensive back, spent three days in Mexico during the summer promoting his team's game Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals in Mexico City. He found he didn't have to do much promoting.
The NFL estimates there are 20 million football fans in Mexico, making it the largest fan base outside the United States. Reporters from more than 150 news outlets attended Parrish's news conferences. At youth camps, he met some of the 250,000 players involved with organized football.
At some point, it dawned on him that he wasn't there as a novelty.
``They don't just
NFL will find football thriving in Mexico
When the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers play at Azteca Stadium on Sunday, they’ll discover something Mexicans have known for some time: Football is alive and thriving in this country.
And that’s without the NFL.
Consider the annual Clasico, a nasty rivalry that goes back decades and pits the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Pumas against the Aguilas Blancas, or White Eagles, of the National Polytechnic Institute.
This is Redskins vs. Cowboys, Raiders vs. Chiefs — Mexican style.
“What a game,” gasped the stadium announcer, his voice straining over the din of 45,000 fans. “And you, the
NFL seeks Hispanic demographic as sport grows in Mexico
By Kent Somers, The Arizona Republic
The NFL is the monolith of professional sports leagues, so powerful in its hold over fans and sponsors that it's hard to imagine that it could grow in popularity.
Yet that's the plan, and a chief target is Mexico and the Hispanic market in the United States.
The NFL sees those markets as vital to continuing the phenomenal growth the league has enjoyed over the past 50 years. That's why NFL officials view the Arizona Cardinals' game against the 49ers in Mexico City on Sunday as
