NFL announces that there will be no game in Mexico in 2023 due to renovations at Estadio Azteca
Mexico’s plan to renovate Estadio Azteca ahead of the 2026 Soccer World Cup will prevent the NFL from hosting a Mexico City game during the 2023 season.
The NFL began planning for the next game in Mexico City as soon as the Week 11 game saw the San Francisco 49ers deliver a crushing 38-10 defeat to the Arizona Cardinals. Although the league remains committed to its Mexican fans, the news has come out that they will have to wait to see a game on home soil until after the 2023 season.
Peter O’Reilly, Executive Vice President of the NFL, announced that the league will not host any games in Mexico during the 2023 season due to planned renovations at Estadio Azteca ahead of the 2026 Soccer World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, this means that next year the league will play two regular season games in Germany, rather than only one.
The remodelling of Mexico’s, and Latin America’s, largest stadium is slated to begin in the middle of next year, and is expected to take between 12 and 18 months to complete.
While there remains league-wide interest in bringing the NFL to Mexico, the league investigated the possibility of playing a game in Monterrey or Guadalajara, but found that no other stadium in the country were able to accommodate the NFL’s strict requirements.