Tickets for the first-ever Monday Night Football game played outside of the U.S., featuring the Oakland Raiders hosting the Houston Texans, will go on sale next week. The game will be played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City at 7:30pm local time on Nov. 21. NFL Mexico Managing Dir Arturo Olivé said, "Grupo Financiero Banorte clients will have access to an exclusive presale for tickets to the game on July 26th and 27th, and on July 28th we will go on public sale, starting with those fans that registered their interest on NFL.com/Mexico." All tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster with prices ranging from 550 pesos ($30) to 6,050 pesos ($326) (NFL).
TWO CHANCES: Australia's Test cricketers "will get two chances to play with the pink ball before the day-night Tests against South Africa and Pakistan this summer." The first and fifth rounds of the Sheffield Shield "will be under lights in the 2016-17 domestic season schedule" (AAP, 7/20).
BACK TO SATURDAY: The Australian Football League grand final "will return to its traditional timeslot of the last Saturday in September next season, after a two-year stint being played in October." Last year's Cricket World Cup "ensured a later start date" for the '15 season while the "newly-introduced bye weekend between round 23 and the finals pushed the premiership decider back a week again this year." Next year's finals series will commence on the weekend of Sept. 8-10 (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 7/19).
EVENT BRIEFS ...
The 5th Int'l Marathon of Ningxia (Wuzhong) Yellow River Coast will start on Sept. 3 in Wuzhong, organizers said. The competition comprises a full marathon, a half marathon and a 5km race. The winner of the full marathon will pick up a cash prize of $20,000 and the total prize money will be $134,525. Organizers expect to attract 30,000 runners (XINHUA, 7/19).
The Asian Football Confederation Annual Awards Ceremony, "the most prestigious awards for the continent, will return this winter to Abu Dhabi," 10 years after the capital first held the awards. The awards will be held at the Emirates Palace on Dec. 1. In a bid to make the evening "more broadcast-friendly, a lesser number of awards will be presented on the night." Twelve awards in six categories will be handed out. The rest of the awards "will be presented in different events through the year" (THE NATIONAL, 7/19).
