Its official mexico it is

[CaptTurbo]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2013543

Two league sources confirmed Tuesday that the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers will meet in an Oct. 2 regular-season game in Mexico City. The matchup, first reported by The Arizona Republic in its Tuesday editions, will be the NFL's initial regular-season game played outside the United States.

The lone remaining element to be addressed is firming up some details with television partners in Mexico, a league source said, and that is considered a formality. The NFL expects to formally announce the game, the potential for which was first broached by commissioner Paul Tagliabue at his pre-Super Bowl news conference, within the next two weeks.

When the commissioner mentioned the possibility of a game outside the United States borders, the reality of such a contest was not considered imminent. But the Cardinals, whose fan base includes a considerable Hispanic following, volunteered to play the game in Mexico City.

In so doing, the Cardinals will essentially forfeit a home game, and against an NFC West division foe. Clearly, however, Cardinals ownership feels the opportunity is an attractive one for their franchise and the rest of the NFL as the league continues to try to broaden its fan base and expand potential revenue streams.

"About 27 percent of our fans are Hispanic," Cardinals vice president Michael Bidwill told The Arizona Republic. "We think playing a game in Mexico City would be a great opportunity for us to continue to cultivate our Hispanic base as well as to develop new fans. It would be an historic and unprecedented event."

Pending an announcement of the game, which could come at the annual NFL meetings in Maui next week if television contracts in Mexico are completed, the Cards have delayed mailing invoices to season ticket patrons. Playing the game in Mexico City, of course, would affect ticket prices because Arizona would play just seven regular-season games in Sun Devil Stadium.

The league would like to make an international regular-season game an annual event. But, as one league source noted, it might be difficult finding volunteers every year who are willing to forfeit a home contest. The Cardinals annually rank among the league's poorest teams in terms of annual home attendance and that almost certainly played some part in their decision to volunteer for the Mexico City contest.

There have been six preseason games played in Mexico City, including three in the past seven years.

 

[fball13]

giving away a home game vs. a division rival shows that the Cards managment values $ more than winning... what a shock...

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2013543



"About 27 percent of our fans are Hispanic," Cardinals vice president Michael Bidwill told The Arizona Republic. "We think playing a game in Mexico City would be a great opportunity for us to continue to cultivate our Hispanic base as well as to develop new fans. It would be an historic and unprecedented event."

QUOTE]


you know, i gave this some thought and here's what came out - if 27% of your fans are hispanic, why not give them a chance to come to one more game? what does playing in mexico have to do with making hispanics happy in az? if the cards played a game in israel (i'm a ****) and i was a season ticket holder i'd just be pissed that i was missing a game. i wouldn't care that they're playing in some other nation that has some nexus to my background. i think this is stupid. especially in light of the fact that we don't play well away from home. this smacks of filling pockets.

 

[blindseyed]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2013543



"About 27 percent of our fans are Hispanic," Cardinals vice president Michael Bidwill told The Arizona Republic. "We think playing a game in Mexico City would be a great opportunity for us to continue to cultivate our Hispanic base as well as to develop new fans. It would be an historic and unprecedented event."

QUOTE]


you know, i gave this some thought and here's what came out - if 27% of your fans are hispanic, why not give them a chance to come to one more game? what does playing in mexico have to do with making hispanics happy in az? if the cards played a game in israel (i'm a ****) and i was a season ticket holder i'd just be pissed that i was missing a game. i wouldn't care that they're playing in some other nation that has some nexus to my background. i think this is stupid. especially in light of the fact that we don't play well away from home. this smacks of filling pockets.

Maybe the Bidwills are encouraging more illegals to come over to home games?

 

[WizardOfAz]

shows that the Cards managment values $ more than winning

How so?

 

[CaptTurbo]

How so?

Because universally, you have a better chance of winning at home, this is known as home field advantage. They are moving 1 home game in the hopes that more people come to the game. So your giving up a game you have the home field advantage on to try to get more people to the game($)

 

[NMCard]

Very good move by the cards. Its best to do this while they are still at SDS. The fan base will be more hispanic in the future so its best to start marketing it to them more. Good job Cards.

 

[azdad1978]

Booooooooo!

 

[MadCardDisease]

you know, i gave this some thought and here's what came out - if 27% of your fans are hispanic, why not give them a chance to come to one more game? what does playing in mexico have to do with making hispanics happy in az? if the cards played a game in israel (i'm a ****) and i was a season ticket holder i'd just be pissed that i was missing a game. i wouldn't care that they're playing in some other nation that has some nexus to my background. i think this is stupid. especially in light of the fact that we don't play well away from home. this smacks of filling pockets.

Think about this. The Cardinals have been drawing maybe 20,000 Cardinal fans a game.

The Stadium in Mexico holds over 100,000 fans. If the Cardinals can lure just 50% of those fans to become Cardinal fans, then boom you have an instant increase of Cardinal fans by like 200%.

That's a lot of revenue.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Because universally, you have a better chance of winning at home, this is known as home field advantage. They are moving 1 home game in the hopes that more people come to the game. So your giving up a game you have the home field advantage on to try to get more people to the game($)

There were less than 29,000 tickets distributed to the Saints game at SDS last year - what's your point?!?

 

[arthurracoon]

About home field advantage:

We BETTER be able to beat San Fran ANYWHERE ANYTIME next season, or we will not deserve to go to the playoffs.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Because universally, you have a better chance of winning at home, this is known as home field advantage. They are moving 1 home game in the hopes that more people come to the game. So your giving up a game you have the home field advantage on to try to get more people to the game($)

If the Cards do this right there is no reason why they can't enjoy home field advantage in Mexico. Hell they might even have a better home field advantage in Mexico.

 

[Scott MS]

Well it's almost the easiest opponent to schedule. Don't forget it will be an AWAY game for both teams, essentially.

Now we need to plan some giant Ciesta with Margs flowing for all the Cards fans here in Phoenix!!

 

[fball13]

There were less than 29,000 tickets distributed to the Saints game at SDS last year - what's your point?!?

To me it's a case of short term thinking by the Cards versus a more wise long-term approach...

Short term = fill the stadium for one game in a season (and disguize it as building a huge fan base in Mexico)

Long Term = improve your chances of making the playoffs by not giving away a home game, prove that you care about winning and your fans.

One other point... how much money will a full stadium in Mexico city make? Remember there's not a lot of discretionary money in that country and 5 pesos for 50 yardline seats won't be too lucrative...

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

One other point... how much money will a full stadium in Mexico city make? Remember there's not a lot of discretionary money in that country and 5 pesos for 50 yardline seats won't be too lucrative...

I'm sure the NFL is throwing a lot of cash their way to forfeit a home game against a division foe. What this cash gets spent on is my biggest concern. The ticket money (which gets split 60/40 among both teams anyways) isn't the cash cow the Bidwills are looking for.

 

[Scott MS]

To me it's a case of short term thinking by the Cards versus a more wise long-term approach...

Short term = fill the stadium for one game in a season (and disguize it as building a huge fan base in Mexico)

Long Term = improve your chances of making the playoffs by not giving away a home game, prove that you care about winning and your fans.

One other point... how much money will a full stadium in Mexico city make? Remember there's not a lot of discretionary money in that country and 5 pesos for 50 yardline seats won't be too lucrative...

Good point. What's a better bet . . . full stadium in Mexico or full stadium in Tempe in January when the playoff game is held here and ticket prices are double!! If we lose that Mexico game and miss the playoffs by a game, this will be another Cardinal debacle.

 

[bratwurst]

I'm sure the NFL is throwing a lot of cash their way to forfeit a home game against a division foe. What this cash gets spent on is my biggest concern. The ticket money (which gets split 60/40 among both teams anyways) isn't the cash cow the Bidwills are looking for.

I would think that if they are getting a kickback for this then the Cards will use it to help pay for their part of the new stadium costs.

I'm curious if they Cards/49ers get to keep the same percentage of gate receipts that they would get at a normal home game, or if the NFL will share out this revenue across the league somehow.

 

[WizardOfAz]

how much money will a full stadium in Mexico city make? Remember there's not a lot of discretionary money in that country and 5 pesos for 50 yardline seats won't be too lucrative...

There is over 21.0 million people living in Mexico City. For the first regular-season NFL game played outside of the USA, I am sure they make more than they would at SDS in October.

 

[clif]

can you say FLEX PACK

 

[JeffGollin]

First of all - Way to go ESPN for turning what should be a positive news story into a negative about the Cardinal home attendance.

Second - The Bidwills should look into some sort of discount "8th ticket/transportation" package deal for fans who want to travel to Mexico City to see the game. In a sense, we'd be bringing some of our home crowd with us to add to what hopefully would be new Cardinal supporters south of the border.

Maybe we could wind up with home field advantage anyway.

 

[Lenny_Biscuit]

It will be a home game for San Fran at least crowd wise. Ask people from other countries about american football and they usually know the Cowboys and the Fourty Niners. Their dynasty, even though long gone by now, ingrained the image of the fourty niners to american football for alot of foreigners.

 

[abomb]

Second - The Bidwills should look into some sort of discount "8th ticket/transportation" package deal for fans who want to travel to Mexico City to see the game. In a sense, we'd be bringing some of our home crowd with us to add to what hopefully would be new Cardinal supporters south of the border.

I agree with this 100%, maybe we can flood the Cards offices with such a request.

A-Bomb

 

[jmt]

This is great news - a chance to really expand our fan base to Tierra del Fuego! All the Latin cable companies have ESPN and ESPN 2 Spanish language broadcasts, but there is very little NFL, save MNF. Soccer, soccer, auto racing, soccer, more soccer, tennis and soccer is about all we get. When I lived in Paraguay, Argentine polo was on instead of Sunday night football. NFL games were replayed on Tuesday afternoon. Sports fans everywhere south of the border will be watching this just becasue it is in Mexico. VAMOS ROJO GRANDE!!

 

[ActingWild]

Awful Awful AWFUL decision! Way to reward the loyal fans that you have by taking away a home game! Exhibition games can be played in Mexico. That's fine, it's pupose is to be an exhibit. A regular season game is ludicrous though. If you want regular season games in Mexico, put a flippin' franchise there. DON'T take away a game from the home crowd.

Now introducing your South American Cardinals!

 

[Dback Jon]

To be fair, the NFL should then move the AZ-SF game scheduled for SF to a neutral site as well - Vegas?