AS.com reported that the NFL "will play five regular season games, one per season, in Mexico" starting in '17 or '18, according to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. The NFL recently said that it "was looking to play more international games and looking at potential sites in Germany, Mexico and Brazil." NFL Mexico Dir Arturo Olivé said, "We’re taking steps in the right direction so that eventually, this platform (of sponsors) which we have reconstructed will enable us to talk directly to the NFL in New York about the possibility of staging games in Mexico. It will be for five games, not three as originally proposed." It will cost $15M to stage NFL games in the country, with Olivé saying that "it was improbable that Mexico City’s Azteca stadium or Olympic Stadium would be used to stage NFL games." Officials in Mexico have reportedly "secured the necessary sponsorship money" to cover the $15M in organizational costs (SI, 8/7).
'PREMATURE': NBC SPORTS' Darin Gantt wrote the Spanish report "was short on details." There seems to be a reason for that -- as the league said that it has not "agreed to anything." NFL spokesperson Michael Signora said that the report in AS.com was at least "premature." Signora: "We are pleased with the growth in fan demand and the increased partner support we have enjoyed in recent years. With this in mind, we are actively assessing the opportunity to play games in Mexico. We have visited several stadiums in recent months, and are analyzing what needs to be done to bring games to Mexico. It is premature to comment specifically as to when this will happen, let alone how many, if any, games might be played" (NBC SPORTS, 8/7).
