Good news for Mexico and its NFL fans.
The National Football League will create a rotation that will
require each of its 32 teams to play an administrative home game outside the United States
at least once every eight years beginning in 2022, the Sports Business Journal reported Friday.
The SBJ announced that team owners will consider, at their meeting next week, a project to
grant local marketing rights to teams in countries such as Mexico
, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China and Germany.
“Today, most international rights are controlled by the league itself.
Teams that win those rights would be allowed to
market their products and sell media rights
and sponsorships in those countries for a period of five years, ”reports the Sports Business Journal.
"Up to six places per market will be awarded
in the countries with the greatest potential: Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany."
The idea is that the NFL schedules at least one game in that country of the franchise to which it has rights during those five years.
This plan to expand internationally is something the NFL had ready to discuss prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, adds the SBJ.
Canada and Germany are the leading countries
in the race for having regular season NFL games.
Furthermore, the "International Series" would not be limited to just four games per season, as the league would seek out "volunteer" teams for additional dates.
"The
Jaguars,
for example, could continue to play regularly in London, where they already have local rights under a single arrangement," the report said.
Due to the pandemic, NFL international games were suspended last season.
In late February 2020, the league announced that the
Arizona Cardinals would return to Mexico City as
administrative venues at Estadio Azteca.
It would be the Cardinals' first appearance in Mexico since 2005, when they played in the NFL's first regular-season game outside of the United States.
On that occasion they defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-14, before 103,467 fans at the Azteca Stadium.
In May, when the NFL announced its 2020 schedule, it made the
cancellation of its games outside the United States official.
“The decision was not easy, but the well-being of everyone who attends the game is our priority.
With this,
the Azteca Stadium, as the official headquarters, plans to receive the NFL,
its teams and the huge fans of this sport in 2021 and 2022 ”, assured Emilio Azcárraga, Chairman of the Board of Grupo Televisa.
It was the second NFL game canceled in Mexico in a two-year span.
In November 2018, the Azteca Stadium was left without the game between Chiefs and Rams due to poor court conditions.
