Here recently, the Cowboys have made strides to have a bigger presence in Mexico. As it turns out, Jerry Jones is making sure he returns the favor.
Dallas will continue to be the home of the Mexican soccer team outside of Mexico, thanks to the renewal of the agreement for four more years with the Cowboys, FC Dallas and the Dallas Sports Commission.
It is the result of the success they achieved with the historic agreement they signed in 2019 with the Mexican Soccer Federation which has helped the Tricolor prepare, train and play as a local in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
In fact, part of the results of that first contract will be reflected again this Saturday, when the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium hosts the game against Nigeria, which represents the first formal game of preparation for the Mexican soccer team heading to the World Cup 2022, which will be held in November in Qatar.
"This announcement is monumental for the Dallas Cowboys fan base," Cowboys owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones said. "It has been incredible to have Mexico playing at AT&T Stadium, their home away from home, for the last four years. We know that continuing this partnership only deepens our relationship with our fan base in North Texas and also Mexico."
The first sporting event that the Cowboys stadium hosted was the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Gold Cup in July 2009, starring Mexico, even before the team itself premiered in the building at that time for the NFL preseason.
That day Mexico defeated Haiti 4-0 in front of 85,000 fans, who saw the interior of the stadium for the first time.
Since then, the Tricolor has played 11 games at the Cowboys stadium, where it has a 6-3-2 record, including friendly and official games of Concacaf, which is the region to which it belongs to FIFA as the Mexican Federation of Soccer.
Before Saturday's game against the Nigerian team, Mexico faced Iceland last summer, as part of the MexTour 2021, which is the tour of friendly games that they have had annually, for more than 20 years, in territory organized and promoted by its partner Soccer United Marketing (SUM).
"We are delighted to extend our multi-year partnership between the Dallas Cowboys, the Mexican Soccer Federation, FC Dallas and the Dallas Sports Commission," said SUM Vice President of International Properties Pablo Zarate. "We are thrilled to work with our committed partners to engage incredibly passionate fans through one-of-a-kind soccer celebrations and impactful community programs beyond the annual match."
"We look forward to working together to further establish the region as a premier home for the global game and unparalleled soccer experiences," he added.
The agreement go beyond doing soccer games every year. El Tri can use training facilities at the Toyota Soccer Center complex and any other Major League Soccer team FC Dallas property, as has been the case throughout this past week.
The Mexican team arrived in Dallas last Tuesday, where they even alternated practices this week with FC Dallas youth teams and players.
The renewed agreement also includes sporting, cultural, festive, and musical events, such as the one they had last Wednesday, led by the group Intocables in the Arts District in downtown Dallas.
The Mexican Soccer Federation will be part of the Cowboys Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations.
FC Dallas will organize and deliver youth soccer clinics as well as community initiatives and will be part of hosting the annual Tricolor game in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"We are very excited to welcome back the Mexican national soccer team for the next four years," said FC Dallas President Dan Hunt. "What makes this really impactful is that we are on the road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup."
"Being able to share this with the fans of the Mexican team here in the United States is great for all of us."
So the Tricolor will be in Dallas for a long time and, as Dan Hunt said, all the way to the 2026 World Cup, in which the Cowboys look to host at least the semifinals in their AT&T Stadium.
