Mexico City to host Texans-Raiders NFL game this year

Mexico City to host Texans-Raiders NFL game this year

SAN FRANCISCO - The National Football League will stage a regular season game at Mexico City in November between the Oakland Raiders and Houston Texans as the sport seeks to spread its international appeal, league chiefs said Friday.

NFL owners last year approved a resolution in 2015 to extend international regular-season games through 2025

"We are coming back to Mexico," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced at his annual press conference in San Francisco ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl.

The Raiders will play the Texans next season at Mexico's City's iconic Azteca Stadium, the towering venue of the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals.

The game will take place on November 21 and be televised live in both the United States and Mexico.

"Expanding our International Series of regular-season games to Mexico marks an important step in our continued international growth," Goodell said.

"We have a tremendous, passionate fan base in Mexico and we know the atmosphere on game day will be outstanding."

The NFL played its first international regular season game in Mexico City over a decade ago, when a crowd 103,467 saw the Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-14 at the Azteca Stadium in October 2005.

NFL owners last year approved a resolution in 2015 to extend international regular-season games through 2025.

An NFL statement said the success of regular-season games staged in London has helped boost television viewing figures there, with the Super Bowl audience increasing by more than 75 percent.

Goodell, meanwhile, said that the possibility of the NFL eventually launching a franchise in London was "realistic" if the sport continued to grow.

"We are considering playing more games in the UK, it's a balancing act with our schedule," he said.

"We're playing in two stadiums next year and that gives us a little bit more flexibility of how to do that.

"I believe the future will see more games in the UK. As far as a franchise, let's continue to grow, to see that excitement, enthusiasm, passion and support continue to develop. If it does, I think that's a realistic possibility."

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