From the Dos Mundos Sports Staff, photo by Don Smith
The Kansas City Chiefs will soon make a road trip, but not to the city they had planned to visit.
The Chiefs were scheduled to play the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 19 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. However, late Tuesday night (Nov. 13), KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, and other media outlets reported the NFL interconference matchup was being moved from Mexico City to the Los Angeles Coliseum because of damage to the Estadio Azteca field.
Word of a possible venue change surfaced during the day Tuesday, as ESPN and other media outlets reported that rainfall and usage of the venue for sporting and concert events had torn up the stadium’s hybrid turf. The damage was so great, in fact, it caused worry about players getting injured.
As the NFL mulled over whether to play the ballgame in Mexico City, change venues or postpone the game, ESPN reported that attempts to fix the field were underway. However, ESPN and news outlets such as USA Today reported there were threats of player boycotts. In addition, Yahoo! Sports reported both teams were making plans to prepare for a venue switch.
If the Chiefs had played in Mexico City, it would have marked their second time to play a regular-season game outside the United States, their second time to play in Mexico and their sixth game abroad overall. Coincidentally, they faced the Rams in their first international game, staged on Aug. 11, 1990, in what was then known as West Germany. Kansas City lost the preseason meeting 19-3.
In 1994, the Chiefs played Minnesota in preseason action in Japan, losing 17-9. They then defeated Dallas 32-6 in a 1996 preseason matchup in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. In 1998, they lost to Green Bay 27-24 in overtime in preseason play in Japan. They played their first regular-season game abroad on Nov. 15 as part of the NFL’s International Series, crushing Detroit 45-10 at Wembley Stadium in London.
