2020 NFL Schedule: NFL Cancels International Games

Last season, the Texans made their first trip across the Atlantic and played the Jaguars in London. In 2016, [NAME REDACTED] took a laser pointer to his eye when the Texans lost to the Raiders in Mexico City. So many found games, so many fond memories of this team, and the NFL in general, playing abroad.

Those will remain memories for the 2020 NFL Season. Kiss your 6 a.m. kickoffs good bye. Because of COVID-19, the NFL has cancelled all international games for the upcoming season. NFL.com published the following statement:

“After considerable analysis, we believe the decision to play all our games domestically this season is the right one for our players, our clubs, and all our fans in the US, Mexico and UK,” NFL executive vice president, chief strategy and growth officer Christopher Halpin said. “We greatly appreciate the support of our governmental and stadium partners in Mexico and the United Kingdom, who all agree with this decision, and we look forward to returning for games in both countries in the 2021 season.

“We also thank our incredible fans in those territories for their passionate support of the NFL. We will continue to serve them through our outstanding media partners and by being active supporters of both grassroots football and COVID-19 relief efforts in Mexico and the UK.”

The Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins previously announced they would be home teams for international games this year. They’ll instead be scheduled to play all their home games in their usual stadiums. The Jaguars were slated to be the first team to play consecutive games overseas.

The league had been planning to feature one game in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, two in London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and two more at Wembley Stadium. The NFL has had a game at Wembley for 13 straight seasons.

For your Houston Texans, this doesn’t directly matter. They were likely playing all their games within the United States this season. It does indirectly affect them since the Jaguars will now be stuck playing all of their games in Jacksonville instead of ‘growing’ the game overseas. Maybe the Jags will be more rested this season because of it. Probably not. I don’t know.

The 2020 NFL Schedule is scheduled to be announced Thursday at 7 p.m. CDT.