The 49ers may wind up going out of the country next season. ESPN’s John Sutcliffe reported the Arizona Cardinals have been a team tabbed to play in Mexico for the 2020 season. Their opponent isn’t known yet, but the 49ers would make a lot of sense.
It stands to reason the league would want to put a divisional game there. It was the move they made in 2019 when the Chargers and Chiefs squared off at Estadio Azteca.
San Francisco finished the 2019 season 13-3, and earned a trip to the Super Bowl, making them a pretty significant draw heading into the 2020 campaign. The 49ers, one of the NFL’s premier brands, wouldn’t be missing a home game since the Cardinals would be slated as the home team, and they’d be a big-name team to send to a place where the league is trying to grow the game.
While the NFL has continued its international series in both England and Mexico, the 49ers haven’t travelled abroad for a game since they faced the Jaguars in London in 2013.
Finally, it’s worth noting how tough the Cardinals played the 49ers in 2019. Arizona lost the two games by a combined 13 points, but a fluke touchdown at the end of the second meeting inflated that total by six points.
Kyler Murray is one of the most electric, young quarterbacks in the league, and the Cardinals are liable to score a ton of points next season. Combine that with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s exciting offensive scheme and there’s a real potential for fireworks – an ideal scenario for the NFL.
We likely won’t know whether the 49ers are traveling abroad until closer to April when the schedule comes out, but they may be willing to take an international game if it means avoiding HBO’s Hard Knocks or an international game that results in the loss of a home game in the future.
If the 49ers do beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, they’ll become a hot commodity for the league as it aims to expand its brand beyond US borders.
