Arizona Cardinals to play game in Mexico City next season
Feb 28, 2020, 9:17 AM | Updated: 9:58 am
MEXICO CITY - OCTOBER 2: Estadio Azteca is shown during the Arizona Cardinals game against the San Francisco 49ers on October 2, 2005 in Mexico City, Mexico. The Cardinals defeated the 49ers 31-14. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
(Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
The Arizona Cardinals will play a game at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City next season as the home team, they announced Friday.
A date and opponent will be revealed at a later date.
With the home and road opponents already set for 2020, that means Arizona could face the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins or Detroit Lions.
It will mark the second time the Cardinals have played in Mexico City. Arizona played the league’s very first regular season game outside the United States on Monday Night Football in Week 4 of the 2005 season. The Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-14, in front of 103,467 fans.
“Two years ago when the NFL awarded Super Bowl LVII to Arizona and State Farm Stadium, we understood the requirement of hosting an international game before 2023,” said Cardinals chairman and president Michael Bidwill in a release. “We are thrilled to learn that this game will take place at Estadio Azteca where we received such an enthusiastic reception in 2005. We are extremely grateful for the support we receive from fans in Mexico and look forward to an incredible experience.”
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The Cardinals will host Super Bowl LVII in February 2023. It will be their fourth time hosting the game and third at State Farm Stadium.
“The last Super Bowl in Arizona in 2015 resulted in an economic impact of over $700 million,” Bidwill said in his statement. “The enormous benefit communities receive from hosting the game is well-established and increases each year, as does the competition to land it.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced at his Super Bowl press conference in January that the NFL will be playing regular-season games in Mexico City for the next two seasons.
He said the exact teams, time and date for this year’s contest will not be revealed until the league releases its full schedule in the spring.
A total of four regular season games have been played in Mexico in NFL history, three of which have come in the last four seasons.
The gap year was in 2018 when poor field conditions at Estadio Azteca forced the NFL to move a game between the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
ESPN’s John Sutcliffe first reported the Cardinals’ visit to Mexico in January.
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