Tom Brady plans to visit Mexico City again; Bill Belichick not so gung-ho on a return

ByMIKE REISS
November 20, 2017, 6:28 PM

— -- FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said after Sunday's victory over the Oakland Raiders at Estadio Azteca that he plans on visiting again.

For coach Bill Belichick, there isn't the same strong desire to return.

"Personally, I wouldn't be in any big rush to do it again," Belichick said Monday during his weekly appearance on sports radio WEEI when asked whether he'd like to play in Mexico again. "It's a long way to go for a game. There's a lot in terms of all the logistics of it. They are not used to having an NFL team, so you have to go in there and handle a lot of the logistics. It took a lot of manpower, a lot of hours, a lot of energy out of our organization to do that. We are exhausted from the trip."

The Patriots, who thumped the Raiders 33-8, arrived home early Monday morning.

"It was a good trip but it took a lot out of us," Belichick said on WEEI's "Dale & Holley" Show with Rich Keefe. "It's a lot. We spent a lot of time talking about altitude, about hydration, about food, water, training elements -- much more so than, say, Denver. Pick another city that has some similarities, but it is quite a bit different.

"We dealt with it. Players did a great job dealing with all the challenges we had to deal with. I think we're fortunate there was no volcano eruptions or earthquakes, or anything else while we were down there. You have two NFL franchises in an area that I don't know how stable the geological plates that were below us [were], but nothing happened, so that was good."

The NFL announced Sunday that a game will be played in Mexico each season through 2021.

After Sunday's game, Brady talked about how much he enjoyed the experience, as fans chanted his name throughout the game.

"To be here and play in a different country and to have everyone cheer for our team, cheer for me and cheer for my teammates is incredible. Hopefully there's many more games here," he said. "It's a great experience. I've never been to Mexico City, but I'm definitely coming back. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, I had a beautiful view in my room. Just a very historic stadium. I know there's been some really important sporting events here.

"It's really a privilege for us to be here to play in front of all of the fans of Mexico and all the people watching on TV."