10 Years After the NFL's Historic Mexican Debut, the League Hasn't Forgotten

Ten years ago this month, at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, the NFL played its first-ever regular-season game outside of the United States. Since then, the league has taken 20 games abroad (18 regular season, two preseason) and will play its 21st international game in a 10-year span when the Buffalo Bills take on the Jacksonville Jaguars later this month at Wembley Stadium in London. 

Thirteen of those games have taken place in the United Kingdom, eight in Toronto and, curiously, zero in Mexico. 

It's curious because a recent study from Global Web Index found that Mexico had more NFL fans than any country outside of the United States, and because by all measures that Oct. 2, 2005, Mexican tilt between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals was an immense success. 

At a sports cathedral that had hosted the likes of Pelé, Diego Maradona and Pope John Paul II, a then-NFL-record crowd of 103,467 rabid fans spent about six hours enthusiastically supporting two lousy teams that would win a combined nine games that entire season. 

I say six hours because, as Clemson Smith Muniz recalls, the majority of the Mexican fans were present and loud hours before kickoff. 

"We got there like four hours early and found the parking lot already half-full," said Muniz, who was the sideline reporter for Westwood One that night, reporting in both English and Spanish. "The buzz was building to a crescendo, an enormous bang to kick off the game. That's the lasting memory. It was just a grand old party with 103,000 people. Sports at its best. With Super Bowls and a lot of events you have high expectations and you oversell it, but this one we were blown away."

"It was a really unforgettable experience," said Mexican sports writer Ivis Aburto, who remembers the stadium being at full capacity three hours before kickoff. "The Cardinals and 49ers were not elite teams at the time, but Mexican fans, who mostly support teams like the Steelers, Cowboys, Dolphins, were convinced they would get their money's worth with an official game, and they did."

A decade later, they've yet to receive an encore. 

Why so long?

One thing that is clear is a lot of folks with ties south of the border—folks like Muniz, Aburto and Carlos Rosado of Fox Sports Mexico—are surprised the NFL has let a decade pass without re-entering the country. Even beyond that '05 regular-season game, the league has a rich history south of the border, having played seven exhibition games in Mexico City and Monterrey dating back to 1968, including six in an eight-year span between 1994 and 2001. 

Mexican-born Rolando Cantu, who was on the Cardinals practice squad for that 2005 game and now works as a manager of international business for the franchise, is also a little surprised the NFL hasn't returned, but he notes that it's complicated. 

ALFREDO ESTRELLA/Getty Images

"There's a lot of moving parts that have to get done between two NFL teams that actually want to move their location abroad," said Cantu, who works to grow the Cards' fanbase in Mexico and is also the color analyst for the team's Spanish broadcasts. "But I think we're close, and from what I've heard the league is working towards that."

Indeed they are, according to Mark Waller, the NFL's executive vice president for international operations. 

"It's on the frontburner," Waller said of a potential return to Mexico in a recent interview with Bleacher Report. "We are very keen to do more in Mexico and take advantage of the huge fanbase that we've got there. I think it's also been clear that the desire is there to go back after the experience we had in 2005." 

The hope regarding that was bolstered last weekend when NFL Media's Ian Rapoport reported (via NFL.com's Kevin Patra) that the league would be adding a Mexican game to the 2016 regular-season schedule. And while the league won't confirm that at this point, optimism has never been higher. 

And don't be surprised if this time the plan is to play a series of games south of the border. 

The 2005 Mexican game was never intended to be the first of a series of tilts in Mexico, with Waller noting that it was hatched on "relatively short notice as part of a contingency in support of Arizona building a new stadium."

"I wouldn't like to think that there's an impression that we were down a path in Mexico and then we changed direction," said Waller. "I think the Mexican game [in 2005] was a one-off that happened to work well both for Mexico and for us at that point in time."

When I spoke to Fox Sports Mexico producer Juan Vazquez about why the NFL might not have been willing to launch a series of regular games in his country a decade ago, he offered three words: "Pounds over pesos."

At around the time the Mexican game took place, Europe was becoming the NFL's primary international focus. And two years later, the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants played the first-ever regular-season game on that continent. 

"There was a really good opportunity to accelerate growth in the UK," said Waller, "and we were encouraged by that and the fact that there was a great stadium that was just being built." 

That's in reference to the new Wembley, which opened in 2007 and became a regular home away from home for a league that was handcuffed to a degree by the fact a finite number of teams were prepared to give up home games. There simply wasn't enough room for trips to both London and Mexico City, and London had more spending power.

"I believe the main reason has been the financial aspect," said Aburto. "In my opinion, the instability of the Mexican economy has been key for the NFL not to be able to have another official game in Mexico."

But with London now hosting three games per year, it does appear as though there's more room for potential endeavors to Mexico or elsewhere in future seasons. And as Aburto reported for Mexican news site AS.com this summer, funding games in that country may be less difficult than in years past.

He notes that NFL Mexico had just a few sponsors when director Arturo Olive started in his role in 2008, but that it now has about 20, which should make it significantly easier to cover the estimated $15 million organizational costs of hosting a game. 

Timeline and obstacles 

Year	Game	Site	Game type
1978	Saints-Eagles	Estadio Azul, Mexico City	Preseason
1994	Oilers-Cowboys	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	Preseason
1996	Chiefs-Cowboys	Estadio Universitario, Monterrey	Preseason
1997	Dolphins-Broncos	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	Preseason
1998	Patriots-Cowboys	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	Preseason
2000	Colts-Steelers	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	Preseason
2001	Cowboys-Raiders	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	Preseason
2005	Cardinals-49ers	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	Reg. season

Vazquez is convinced the Mexican government—which recently revived Formula One's Mexican Grand Prix, is about to host its second NBA regular-season game in as many years and hosted the 2015 FIBA Americas Basketball Championship—is inspired to bring as many major sporting events as possible to the country. 

So it's clear Mexico wants the NFL to return as soon as possible, and it's becoming clear the NFL is growing equally enthusiastic.

"I think we'd be really happy if we were playing a game in Mexico by 2017, and I think we'd be disappointed if we weren't there by 2018," said Waller. "We really want to be able to play there, the desire is there."

What's been the holdup? 

Muniz and Rosado both note that a potential quagmire could exist simply in terms of who would broadcast the game in Mexico, with major rightsholders TV Azteca and Televisa battling for the ability to air the game. Muniz termed it a "potentially delicate negotiation with Mexican broadcast partners," while Rosado told me he heard the rights battle "was a big problem."

And beyond that and the obvious financial hurdle, potential geopolitical issues have to be considered, particularly as immigration between Mexico and the United States has become a hot topic in an American election year. 

From the NFL's standpoint, Waller says they've done two site visits to Mexico City with "a very clear sense of what we'd need to get done."

"The next part of the situation," he said, "is literally now sitting down with the stadium owners and government in Mexico and talking through what those requirements might be and what the time scale might be that would be realistic to get those done."

Per Waller, the NFL's due diligence surrounds three areas: 

1. Ensuring that the facilities are adequate: "And that's specifically focused around locker rooms and space requirements for the size of an organization," he noted.
2. In-game technology and infrastructure: Here, we're talking integration of sideline tech, with the NFL using an advanced coach communication system as well as Microsoft Surface tablets. "In recent years we've been focused on making sure that if and when we go back, the stadium that we play in is ready," said Waller. "A lot has changed since 2005 from a technology and infrastructure standpoint." 
3. Stadium infrastructure regarding security and crowd control at entrances and exits: Once again, the league's policies have changed since it last held a game in Mexico. 

"The needs that we have for playing a game have evolved significantly," added Waller. "So that's really where our focus is now in Mexico. Let's make sure that we have a stadium that can accommodate what we need. And as soon as we can solve that I think we feel very comfortable that teams would love to play there."

That's where it appears the UK possesses a sizable edge, with Wembley's ongoing upgrades and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.—an English Premier League soccer team—developing a state-of-the-art new venue which the London mayor thinks could house a full-time NFL franchise. 

And it might explain why the league is fully committed to England while having to shoot down a claim from Olive that it had committed to playing a five-game series in Mexico. 

Potential hosts

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

The league continues to work with local representatives and architects in order to determine where to play in Mexico, and there are some quality options south of the border. Three come to Cantu's mind:

1. Estadio Azteca, Mexico City: This remains the NFL's primary focus, which makes sense because it's the country's largest and most famous stadium and has hosted six of the eight NFL games played in the country. But Aburto has his concerns, noting that Azteca "is old and is not ready for what an NFL team needs in its locker rooms."
2. Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Monterrey: The two-month-old, state-of-the-art soccer venue located in a city less than 100 miles from the United States border sounds ideal, except it has a capacity of only 51,000.
3. Estadio Omnilife, Guadalajara: Another young, state-of-the-art stadium, and one that played host to the 2011 Pan American Games' opening and closing ceremonies. But it holds only 49,850. 

A franchise of their own?

In terms of international relocation or expansion, London is of course the hot city. The NFL has established a strong presence there and is only easing back into Mexico. So we'd be putting the cart way ahead of the horse by speculating on Mexico's chances of one day landing an NFL team before it has even cemented a series of regular games, but the market actually possesses some major selling points. 

Waller notes that when the league considers spreading its wings into international cities, it requires three things: A city with viable and passionate fanbase, a city which is located in a manageable time zone and a city with a viable stadium.  

Cities in England, Germany, Canada and even Brazil would appear to meet that criteria, but if Mexico City can establish that its stadium meets the league's requirements, it might actually be the poster child for international expansion or relocation. There are more fans in Mexico than in the UK, and it's a much shorter flight. 

So could a return to Mexico for a series of games be the precursor to something bigger?

"Our job is to grow the fanbase and make sure that in those markets we have a big enough fanbase to sustain a team, a season of games and make those markets viable and attractive to give ourselves the ability to play more games or even put a team there," said Waller.

Cantu, who notes that Mexico has a particularly special football culture which includes local movie theaters showing prime-time NFL games and kids leagues with instant replay, is a believer. 

"I think it's very possible," he said. "The fanbase is eager to be a part of more NFL football every year. When you have that in place and your football community is engaged like that, maybe in 10, 15, 20 years we'll see the possibility of having a franchise in Mexico."

For now, though, the focus is squarely on recapturing that unforgettable feeling from Oct. 2, 2005. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon