Report: Cardinals to play in Mexico in 2020 as home team

Cardinals fans will have one fewer home game at State Farm Stadium to watch their team this coming season.

The Arizona Cardinals played in the first-ever NFL regular-season game in Mexico back in 2005. It appears they will again.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced on Wednesday at a press conference there will be a game played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in both 2020 and 2021. The details of when and who would be announced later.

The when is not known, but ESPN’s John Sutcliffe is reporting the Arizona Cardinals will be the home team in 2020. Their opponent is not yet known.

He appeared on television to give the report, he indicated it would be in 2020.

“Good news from commissioner Roger Goodell. They have reached an agreement with Estadio Azteca. Two more years in the regular season,” he said on ESPN Mexico. “This is what we know. It won’t be New England against Miami. The information I have been able to confirm is that Arizona, the Cardinals, is going to play after 15 years again in Mexico as the home team.”

The Cardinals played the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City in 2005. Sutcliffe said ideally the game would be against the 49ers or the Miami Dolphins.

The 49ers, of course, would be a big draw because they are in the Super Bowl.

This means the Cardinals will only play seven regular-season games at State Farm Stadium. Home fans will lose one home game this season.

Back in 2014, the NFL made it a requirement for teams who won a Super Bowl bid to host the big game to give up a home game to play as the home team internationally.

The Super Bowl will be played in Glendale at State Farm Stadium in 2023.

The Cardinals will have home games against the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins in 2020.

The NFL has played four regular-season games in Mexico. The Cardinals and 49ers played the first in 2005, when the Cardinals beat the 49ers 31-14 in front of more than 103,000 fans.

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