Hasta luego, Mexico.
That seems to be the sentiment from the National Football League (NFL), which has essentially said “catch you later” to Mexico by leaving the country off its international schedule for a third consecutive year.
This year’s snub hurts even more, as there were expectations late last year that Mexico City would be hosting a matchup during the 2025 regular season, which begins Sept. 4.
The 2025 international slate!
📺: NFL Schedule Release — Wednesday 8pm ET on NFLN/ESPN2
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/PFBwbjG1m0— NFL (@NFL) May 13, 2025
At a game in Germany last season, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the NFL Network that the league’s owners had authorized up to eight games per season outside of the United States.
As he ticked off locales being focused on for 2025, he said, “We expect to return to Mexico City,” which has not hosted a game since the San Francisco 49ers played the Arizona Cardinals in 2022.
Mexican fans cheered. Optimism blossomed. “The NFL will return to Mexico in 2025,” beamed a headline in the news source Infobae.
Flash forward to this week’s headline in the news portal SICOM Noticias: “Mexico is out!”
On Tuesday, the league unveiled the 2025 schedule for its 32 teams, including a slate of seven international games: one each in São Paulo, Brazil; Dublin, Ireland; Berin, Germany; Madrid, Spain; and three in London, England (two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and one at Wembley Stadium).
The announcement came as a disappointment to Mexico’s NFL’s fans, a group estimated to be 40 million strong — the largest NFL fan base of any country outside of the United States.
The primary reason for not returning to Mexico is the ongoing renovation of Estadio Azteca — now known as Estadio Banorte — which has hosted all five of Mexico’s previous regular-season NFL games.
The stadium is undergoing extensive upgrades in preparation for the 2026 World Cup and is not expected to reopen until March 28, 2026.
Sports Business Journal reported earlier this year that “Mexico City authorities are balking at re-joining the [NFL] mix in 2025. Essentially, they are deathly afraid of taking any risks with the field and venue before the World Cup, sources said. Everybody at the NFL understands the importance of the World Cup in Mexico, but they’re also a bit annoyed by what they consider risk aversion to a fault.”
At a World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, Mexico City’s iconic stadium will host the opening ceremony and opening game on June 11, 2026, two additional group-stage games and two games in the knockout rounds.
Peter O’Reilly, NFL executive vice president of business and events, told SICOM Noticias: “We continue to talk with our partners in Mexico, especially with a clear understanding of when they know the right time is once the Estadio Azteca is renovated. For now, the key word is ‘when,’ because we want to do it right and have a great game in Mexico.”
O’Reilly has also said the league is “committed” to returning to Mexico in 2026 after the renovations are complete.
The last NFL game in Mexico took place on Nov. 21, 2022, when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 38-10 in a “Monday Night Football” matchup at Estadio Azteca that drew 78,427 fans, an experience 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said “was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever been a part of. We were told it might be like that but it was even better than we expected.”
Mexico also hosted the first-ever NFL regular-season game outside of the U.S. — a 2005 contest featuring the same two teams, with the Cardinals beating the 49ers 31-14. The game drew 103,467 fans to a pre-downsized Azteca, setting an NFL regular-season record.
Azteca also hosted one of the 40 NFL preseason exhibition games the NFL played outside the United States from 1986 to 2005. That game, in 1994, drew 112,376 people to watch the Houston Oilers defeat the Dallas Cowboys 6-0.
The NFL’s lineup of 2025 international games can be viewed at NFL.com.
With reports from El Economista, Diario AS, SportsMedia MX and ICOM Noticias
