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SPORTS Friday 11 august 2017

Mexico buoyed

by NFL success
and hopes to GREAT

host more
games

By CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- DANE
co hopes to top last year’s
success with the NFL and is
trying to extend its three-
year deal to host league
games.
In 2016, Oakland and
Houston played the first
regular-season game in
Mexico since 2005. This
year, the Raiders will return
to Azteca stadium to play
Super Bowl champion New
England on Nov. 19.
Last year’s game generat-
ed $45 million for the Mex-
ico City’s economy, ac-
cording to a league study.
“We need to keep working
hard to be as successful as
last year in order to have a
chance to continue with
this project and that the
game is here to stay,” Artu-
ro Olive, the NFL Mexico of-
fice director, said Thursday.
The 2016 game drew a
crowd of 76,473, including
9,500 international visitors,
mainly from the U.S. and
21,500 visitors who traveled
from elsewhere in Mexico.
About 205,000 people at-
tended the NFL Fan Fest
in the Chapultepec park
during the weekend and
more than 55,000 people
took part in other commu-
nity events in the city dur-
ing game week.
“We are giving everything,
Olive said. “We set the bar
high for last year’s game
and we were successful,
but we’re trying to do even
better this year.”
Olive says he has talked
with “some teams” about
holding training camps in
Mexico.
“But we have not been
able yet to find a way to Olesen, Kisner grab first-round lead at U.S. PGA Championship
make it comfortable for
them to leave the places
where they usually do it”, Thorbjorn Olson waves after birdie on the 15th hole during the
he said. first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the
Quail Hollow Club Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017, in Charlotte, N.C.
Associated Press
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