An announcement that the National Football League made on Wednesday means that the Minnesota Vikings may still end up with an international game in 2026, but not an overseas game.
Allow me to explain.
The league has announced that the San Francisco 49ers will serve as the home team for a game that will take place this December, likely in either Week 13 or 14, at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City. It will be one of two international games for the Niners in 2026, as it has also been announced that they will open the 2026 regular season against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL’s first ever game in Australia when those two teams kick things off in Melbourne in Week 1.
The Vikings have a road game scheduled against the 49ers this season because both teams finished in third place in their respective divisions in 2025. That means that the Vikings, who had two overseas games last season themselves, could potentially see themselves as the road team for another international contest. This time, however, they wouldn’t be required to leave the North American continent, or even the Central time zone.
This will be the sixth game for the NFL in Mexico, and their first time back since 2022, when the Niners trounced the Arizona Cardinals at the same stadium. Estadio Banorte has been closed recently to undergo renovations, as it will be one of the venues that will host the upcoming World Cup. The renovations will also expand the stadium’s capacity to seat 90,000 people.
As the schedule hasn’t been announced yet, and won’t be announced until sometime after the 2026 NFL Draft, this won’t really alter any potential travel plans that anyone might have if they were planning on taking in a Vikings road game. But would you take a trip to Mexico City to see the Vikings if the opportunity became available?
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