The director of the NFL in Mexico, Arturo Olivé, assured that Mexicans can reach the league, as the cases of Isaac Alarcón and Alfredo Gutiérres showed
The hiring of Isaac Alarcon to the Cowboys de Dallas and of Alfredo Gutierrez to the San Francisco 49ers, break the paradigm that Mexicans cannot play in the NFL, boasted the director of the League in Mexico, Arturo Olivé.
Who would not like as a father that his son tells him that he wants to be like Isaac and Alfredo. The first thing we achieve with them is to break the paradigm that reaching the NFL Yes you can, ”he explained to EFE on Sunday.
Both Alarcón and Gutiérrez reached the best American football league in the world thanks to the international program, which encourages the arrival of non-American players to the NFL.
The Mexicans are part of the practice team of both teams and aspire to join the main squads in the near future.
In history, 14 born in Mexico have played in the NFL, the last one was Victor Leyva in 2002 with Bengals de Cincinnati.
The arrival of these players has increased the Mexican fans, not solo for the teams they form but for the entire League and we see that on social networks ”, said Olivé.
The executive assured that he works closely with ONEFA, the main League college football in the country, to accelerate the arrival of more Mexicans to the NFL.
“ONEFA has allowed us to work together as part of the great American football family of which we are and are a part. We will always seek to develop more opportunities for collaboration and will announce a new one shortly, ”he commented.
Olivé affirmed that there are 48 million NFL fans in the country and that the three teams with the most followers are the Cowboys, the Steelers and the Patriots.
“Between them they have a close fight for the leadership of the number of fans and it is a consequence of what has been done for more than 50 years. Dallas and Pittsburgh have been on Mexican television since the 1970s and New England has had a sporting dominance in recent years, “he explained.
The director of the NFL Mexico said he was confident that in 2022 the games will return to the Azteca stadium, after two seasons that the pandemic has prevented.
“We are already in the early stages of planning a game for 2022, thinking that the conditions are adequate to carry it out as in previous years and attract 100 percent of fans,” he said.
Olivé believes that between April and May 2022 it will be possible to meet the teams that will face each other at Azteca and that in the event that the pandemic ruins the League’s plans, the two games remaining from the contract would be delayed to 2023 and 2024. .
“We are focused on what is coming for 2022, but always with our sights set on how we can renew the contract and give permanence to the parties in Mexico in the medium and long term, but there is still nothing definitive,” anticipated Olivé.
The manager stressed that the project of a possible new stadium for the Mexican soccer Tigres UANL continues, since if the building has a capacity of at least 70 thousand fans, Monterrey could be a new headquarters for the NFL in Mexico.
“We are focused on capacities of 70 thousand up and in Mexico with this capacity only the Azteca. I know about the Tigres project and we have reported it to the United States. When the time comes, we will talk with them because it would give us an opportunity to expand our reach in one of our main markets in the country ”, he concluded.
With information from EFE
