First NFL regular season game played outside the U.S., in Mexico
"
Futbol Americano
" was the marketing name used for the first
National Football League
(NFL)
regular season
game held outside the
United States
.
[1]
Played on October 2, 2005, at
Estadio Azteca
in
Mexico City
, the
Arizona Cardinals
defeated the
San Francisco 49ers
, 31?14. The game drew an NFL regular season record of 103,467 paid fans.
[2]
The name "Futbol Americano" is
Spanish
for "
American football
," a term used to distinguish it from
futbol
, which is Spanish for
association football
(
soccer
in American English).
Futbol
is an approximation of the English word "football" in Spanish phonology; a more literal translation of "foot ball" is
balompie
,
[3]
a calque term that is not used in Spanish-speaking countries other than for stylistic purposes in media.
[4]
Background
[
edit
]
Beginning in 1986, the league held a series of annual preseason
exhibition games
, called
American Bowls
, that were held at international sites outside the
United States
.
[5]
Several years later in his annual news conference prior to
Super Bowl XXXIX
in February 2005, NFL Commissioner
Paul Tagliabue
announced that the league was considering holding regular season games outside the United States, with
Toronto
and Mexico City as the primary candidates.
[6]
In March, the league announced that the first NFL regular season game outside the United States was to be played on October 2, with the Cardinals facing the 49ers in Mexico City.
[7]
It was scheduled as a home game for the Cardinals, mostly because the team rarely sold out at their then-home field,
Sun Devil Stadium
in
Tempe, Arizona
.
[7]
To mark this historic game, all NFL players during that weekend wore "Futbol Americano" stickers on their helmets, while "Futbol Americano" banners were placed in all league stadia.
[1]
(In the
2012
season, home team stadia had "Futbol Americano" stencils, goalpost wraps and banners placed in honor of
National Hispanic Heritage Month
.)
[8]
The league does not consider this 49ers?Cardinals game in Mexico City as an "American Bowl"
[5]
and does not list it as part of the
NFL International Series
(see below).
[9]
[10]
Game summary
[
edit
]
The San Francisco 49ers got all the momentum, scoring two fumble returns for touchdowns and taking a 14?0 lead with 7:57 to play in the first quarter. However, San Francisco would never score again. In the second quarter, the Arizona Cardinals scored two field goals and a 17-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Larry Fitzgerald
with an unsuccessful
two-point conversion
to still trail 14?12 at halftime. Kicker
Neil Rackers
, who scored two field goals in the second quarter, scored two more in the third to take an 18?14 lead. Arizona then dominated the fourth quarter, as they scored a field goal (21?14), a touchdown (28?14), and another field goal to win the game, 31?14.
The football used on the opening kickoff was later sent to the
Pro Football Hall of Fame
.
[11]
Scoring summary
[
edit
]
- 1st Quarter
- SF ?
D. Smith
fumble recovery in end zone (
J. Nedney
kick), 14:51
49ers 7?0.
- SF ?
D. Johnson
78 yd. fumble return (J. Nedney kick), 7:57
49ers 14?0.
- 2nd Quarter
- ARI ? FG
N. Rackers
40, 8:46
49ers 14?3.
Drive:
12 plays, 66 yards, 4:56.
- ARI ? FG N. Rackers 45, 2:44
49ers 14?6.
Drive:
8 plays, 50 yards, 3:55.
- ARI ?
L. Fitzgerald
17 pass from
J. McCown
(pass failed), 0:05
49ers 14?12.
Drive:
7 plays, 69 yards, 1:03.
- 3rd Quarter
- ARI ? FG N. Rackers 48, 8:57
Cardinals 15?14.
Drive:
6 plays, 47 yards, 3:17.
- ARI ? FG N. Rackers 23, 2:41
Cardinals 18?14.
Drive:
8 plays, 44 yards, 4:04.
- 4th Quarter
- ARI ? FG N. Rackers 43, 13:14
Cardinals 21?14.
Drive:
7 plays, 26 yards, 3:02.
- ARI ?
A. Boldin
27 pass from J. McCown (N. Rackers kick), 8:29
Cardinals 28?14.
Drive:
5 plays, 35 yards, 2:47.
- ARI ? FG N. Rackers 24, 6:00
Cardinals 31?14.
Drive:
4 plays, 7 yards, 1:41.
Officials
[
edit
]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
After the success of the 2005 Futbol Americano game, the NFL began holding more regular season games outside the United States. Beginning with the
2007 season
, the league has hosted games every year at
London
's
Wembley Stadium
in a series known as the
International Series
. The series expanded to a second London venue in
2016
with a game at
Twickenham Stadium
. Starting in 2018, the primary venue for International Series games switched from Wembley to
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
. From
2008
to
2013
, the
Buffalo Bills
played one regular season game at
Toronto
's
Rogers Centre
in what was known as the
Bills Toronto Series
.
As of 2016, the 2005 Futbol Americano game was one of only four NFL games played outside the US to have aired on American national television, the others being a
New York Jets
?
Buffalo Bills
game in
Toronto
in 2009, which aired on
NFL Network
; a
Detroit Lions
?
Atlanta Falcons
game in 2014 in London that started at 9:30 a.m. ET and was broadcast nationally on
Fox
; and an International Series game between the
Houston Texans
and
Oakland Raiders
in 2016 held at
Estadio Azteca
in
Mexico City
and televised by
ESPN
. The latter game was the first
Monday Night Football
game held outside the U.S.
All other games in the Bills Toronto Series and NFL International Series have been regionally televised like any other NFL Sunday afternoon game.
References and notes
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