MEXICO CITY -- When the New England Patriots play the Oakland Raiders next November at the Estadio Azteca, there’s a good chance Tom Brady and Derek Carr won’t be the only two quarterbacks Mexican fans will be lining up to see.
The Week 11 afternoon broadcast will be aired by CBS in the U.S., with former Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo as the new lead NFL analyst for the network this upcoming season. Romo, a Mexican-American, is a uniquely popular figure a country where the Cowboys have traditionally been one of the most popular teams.
Romo’s Mexican heritage stems from his paternal grandfather, Ramiro Romo Sr., who emigrated from Muzquiz in northeast Mexico to San Antonio more than half a century ago.
Of the seven preseason games that the NFL has successfully staged in Mexico, the Dallas Cowboys have appeared in four, including one played outside of Mexico City, when they squared off with the Kansas City Chiefs in a 1996 preseason contest played in the northern Mexico city of Monterrey. It will be a return to Mexico City for the Patriots, who played the Cowboys at the Estadio Azteca in a 1998 preseason game.
Though it’s not certain that Romo will call the game in Mexico City, it seems likely that a game between the reigning AFC West champions and the current Super Bowl winners should warrant the network’s top pairing. A CBS official declined comment via email, stating that broadcast assignments for games have yet to be announced.
As for the upcoming season’s game in Mexico City, scheduled as the national broadcast at 4:25 p.m. ET on Nov. 19, league officials have been interested in extending the NFL’s partnership with Mexico.
“There’s a third game on the docket in 2018; that’s when the contract ends in this first phase and we’ll work to extend it,” said NFL Mexico director Arturo Olive, appearing on ESPN Mexico's NFL Live on Monday. “Our focus is to deliver on making this the best game possible and do better than we did in 2016 for the fans in the stadium, those watching at home and for all those who follow the game in Mexico.”
The making of the Patriots’ return to Latin America has been in the works since last season. ESPN Mexico’s John Sutcliffe reported last December that Patriots owner Robert Kraft had been in discussions to take his team south of the border for the first time in nearly two decades. The Patriots have not participated in an international contest since their 45-7 drubbing of the St. Louis Rams on Oct. 28, 2012, at Wembley Stadium in London.
“I know that we have a lot of passionate Patriots fans in Mexico,” Kraft said after the NFL announced the game in Mexico earlier this year. “We have had plenty of success in international games and I attribute that to our tremendous fan support in those venues.”
"Vamos a regresar el próximo año a México con los @Patriots y los @RAIDERS"
Roger Goodell#SBxESPN
¡Detalles! https://t.co/Z7qMx4MyOR pic.twitter.com/6vjB8pJJcr
— NFLLive_esp (@NFLLive_esp) February 1, 2017
The Raiders will be returning to the Estadio Azteca after defeating the Houston Texans 27-20 last season.
“The league was very happy with what we did. That game was iconic for us,” Olive said.
Aside from their matchup in Mexico City with the Super Bowl LI winners, the Raiders will play in a franchise-record five prime-time games in the 2017 season, including an ESPN Monday Night Football matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on Christmas Day.
Though the NFL was pleased with the result of the game last November, Olive acknowledged that a few details need addressing, mainly the issue of laser pointers coming from the stands onto the field. “We delivered on expectations, though there were a couple of details everyone knows about that we must correct for [2017],” he said.
After 2018, when a third NFL game in Mexico City will be announced and played, it is Olive’s hope that the league will continue to play in Mexico, with the aim of expand the number of games in the country.
“What I’ve heard [from the league office] is that we’ll do it like we’ve done in London, step-by-step with one game a year, hoping that we can do more in the future,” Olive said.
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