{"id":183240,"date":"2026-02-18T18:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/183240\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T18:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:03:26","slug":"nfl-announces-san-francisco-49ers-will-return-to-mexico-city-in-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/183240\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Announces San Francisco 49ers Will Return to Mexico City in 2026 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The <a class=\"entity\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/san-francisco-49ers-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco 49ers<\/a> will return to Mexico City to play a regular-season game this season, the <a class=\"entity\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The date and opponent are yet to be determined, but the game will be played in the renovated Azteca Stadium, which was recently renamed Banorte.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The stadium has been closed for renovations since May 2024 ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/soccer\/fifa-world-cup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">2026 World Cup<\/a> and will reopen in March with a soccer match between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/soccer\/mexico-men-team\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Mexico<\/a> and <a class=\"entity\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/soccer\/portugal-men-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Portugal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The game is the first in a three-year-contract signed by the NFL to bring games to Mexico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">&#8220;We are delighted to bring regular-season NFL games back to Mexico City, reaffirming our deep and long-standing connection with fans across the country,&#8221; NFL Mexico director General Arturo Oliv\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The 49ers&#8217; last game in Mexico City was in the 2022 season, when they defeated the <a class=\"entity\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/arizona-cardinals-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arizona Cardinals<\/a> 38-10 on a Monday night at Estadio Azteca.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The NFL has hosted six regular-season games south of the border since 2005, when the 49ers played against the Cardinals in Mexico City in the NFL\u2019s first international regular-season game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">&#8220;We are thrilled to return to Mexico and to play in front of one of the most passionate fan bases in the league,&#8221; 49ers CEO Al Guido said. &#8220;After two unforgettable experiences in 2005 and 2022, we are excited to reunite with the Mexico faithful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">According to the NFL office in Mexico, San Francisco is one of the most popular teams in the country alongside the <a class=\"entity\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, <a class=\"entity\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> and <a class=\"entity\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/new-england-patriots-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New England Patriots<\/a>. Mexico also has a 40 million fan base, the largest outside the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The 49ers are one of 10 teams with marketing rights in Mexico as part of the NFL&#8217;s Global Markets Program, giving them a chance to build their brand beyond the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The game in Mexico will be the second international one this season for the 49ers, who are set to play the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/nfl\/niners-play-rams-first-regular-season-nfl-game-australia-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">first regular-season game in Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco 49ers will return to Mexico City to play a regular-season game this season, the NFL&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[9522,101,296,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-183240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-national-football-league","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","11":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","12":"tag-san-francisco-news","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}