The NFL’s 2016 schedule includes one game this season that will be played at Mexico’s Estadio Azteca, when the Oakland Raiders will play host to the Houston Texans.
With the matchup still six months away, it looks to be a very popular. According to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, 110,000 people have already registered to obtain tickets to watch the game live on Monday, Nov. 21 (via 247 Sports).
According to the report, each person that registered for a ticket can request to purchase up to four tickets. This could present a overly-crowded house considering Estadio Azteca reportedly has a seating capacity of 95,500.
Such high interest in the upcoming game is not too surprising. There were a reported 103,467 fans in attendance at Estadio Azteca when the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals played there in October of 2005. At that time, an NFL attendance record was established.
Regarding this November’s game, realistically 300-400,000 tickets could be requested depending on how many tickets each customer requests.
How Estadio Azteca plans to handle the overflow should be interesting. It goes without saying that some who requested tickets will be left out in the cold. It just remains to be seen what the true capacity of the stadium is with private booths and boxes.
Nevertheless, the NFL must be thrilled with the interest this game is receiving on an international stage. It only promises to make the league think longer and harder about expanding its international slate from North American and Western Europe.