As NFL fans watched league Commissioner Roger Goodell give his speech on Wednesday, May 20, deflategate was sure to dominate headlines. Questions about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady were answered as well as discipline on the team.

But, somewhere in his speech Goodell addressed the NFL's international game.

“Some of it was just on media coverage. Particularly in Germany, we know there is some interest in playing a game over there. We know there is a renewed interest in playing a game in Mexico, a regular season game. I think we will evaluate that.

“There’s been some interest in playing a Pro Bowl in Rio. So we are going to evaluate all those. There’s a growing passion for our game on a global basis and we want to respond to it.

“We want to respond to it in the right way, in the right markets we think are a priority for us, so we can continue to grow this great game. We are excited about where we are. We are excited about the passion for our game and taking it to another level,” Goodell said.

Expanding the NFL game into Mexico would be a no-brainer for multiple reasons.

The first and most obvious reason is because of popularity. American football will never supersede soccer in Mexico, but it is already an extremely popular sport. NFL TV ratings are going through the roof from September through January in numerous Mexican-based cities, and many Mexican NFL fans are even making frequent trips into the U.S. to watch games live.

The Dallas Cowboys are among the most popular NFL teams in the Latino community.

In 2005 the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers played a regular season game (the first ever NFL regular season game outside the U.S.) in Mexico City, Mexico. What were the results? Huge success times 100. That game set the all-time NFL attendance record having being played at the Estadio Azteca with 103,467.

That record has since been broken by the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, who hosted 105,121 paid fans at Cowboys Stadium in 2009. Still, there's no denying the fact that Mexican sports fans love their American football, and the large Latin American nation would be a great spot to host games.

The commissioner also brought up Brazil. Brazil has been mentioned several times in the past for a possible preseason game or even a Pro Bowl. Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil behind only São Paulo with numerous metro systems, stadiums and amenities that could be used for incoming fans. Brazil did a terrific job hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Mexico City is the second most populated city in all of the Americas with nearly 9 million people. Rio de Janeiro ranks fifth.

Other important factors to consider here is player safety and time. Games have been annually played in London, England since 2007. Flying thousands of miles across the country and the Atlantic Ocean is a huge inconvenience when compared to playing in Mexico. Why play in an entirely different continent with a very different time zone when you can simply play in Mexico?

Nothing has been confirmed yet as far as broadening the game to either Mexico or Brazil, but it appears as if the league is heading in that direction.

Follow Damon Salvadore on Twitter