Raiders, Texans players could face devastating effects playing at Azteca Stadium

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Azteca Stadium is 7,280 feet above sea level, that’s 2,000 feet higher than the NFL’s most-elevated stadium -- the Broncos’ Sports Authority Field at Mile High, which sits at 5,280 feet.

But it’s not just the altitude that could leave players looking for oxygen masks. Former U.S. national soccer team star Eric Wynalda believes the air quality of Mexico’s capital could also have harmful effects.

“Azteca Stadium is the worst place to ever play a sporting event,” Wynalda told USA Today.

“You can’t breathe. The pollution is so bad that if you don’t have some form of rain that’s brought all that down you are going to be sucking wind.

“They (will) break a record for how many oxygen masks they have on the sidelines. The combination of being that high up with pollution is just devastating to the body.”

If you don’t want to take Wynalda’s word for it, Jorge Avendano Reyes -- a local sports medicine and respiration doctor -- also thinks players might encounter troubling symptoms at Azteca, which is the only stadium that has hosted two soccer World Cup finals.

“There can be headaches, dizziness, sensation of fatigue, accelerated heartbeat, hyperventilation,” Reyes told USA Today. “We can also have respiratory symptoms when we are exposed often to the pollution.

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