Why 49ers won’t play Cardinals in Mexico City during 2020 NFL season

Put the passports away. You won't be needing them during the 2020 NFL season.

The league announced Monday that, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the five international games that had been planned for the 2020 season will instead be played in the United States. That includes four games that originally had been planned to take place in London and one in Mexico City.

And, consequently, the 49ers might be impacted.

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The Arizona Cardinals previously had been announced as one of the home teams for the international games in 2020, and given the Cardinals' location, it certainly would not have come as a surprise if Arizona had been chosen to host the game in Mexico City. Considering the 49ers play the Cardinals twice a season, there was a decent chance San Francisco might play one of its road games down there.

Not anymore.

The #NFL announced today there will be no 2020 games scheduled for outside the United States. There was a chance the #49ers would have played in Mexico City against the #AZCardinals, who were originally set to play there in a home game.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) May 4, 2020

So, domestic 49ers fans hoping to internationally travel to see their team play will have to wait another year -- at least. Given everything currently going on in the world, that shouldn't be too much of an adjustment.