As the calendar moves away from the crazy sports equinoxthe NBA is getting more attention for its early season action with its annual trip to Mexico.
On Saturday, the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards will play in Mexico City as the NBA once again hosts a regular season game south of the border, this time during one of Mexico’s main holidays, “Día de los Muertos” (“Day of the Dead”). “).
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For people unfamiliar with the holiday, having a basketball game on it may seem strange if the only prescription is the word “dead,” but in fact the holiday is as vibrant and festive as any in the world. “It’s different from how we celebrate this day around the world,” Arnon de Mello, managing director of NBA Canada and Latin America, said in a video interview. “To Mexico, (‘Day of the Dead’) is really a celebration. It’s a happy day, so it’s going to be great to marry that with this great experience of an NBA game in town.”
The league’s connection to Mexico goes all the way back to 1992 with regular preseason contests held in Mexico City and Monterrey, and aside from seasons affected by COVID-19, the league has held at least one regular season match at Arena CDMX (Mexico City Arena). ) since the 2014–15 season.
Washington will play its fourth game in the country while Miami will play in its third. Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., who was born in Irvine, California, has dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico and played for the Mexican national team during the 2019 Pan American Games.
In addition to having an important rotation player with Mexican heritage on the court, Saturday will be special because the game is being played on the holiday for the first time. Raul Zarraga, the head of the league of operations in Mexico, said that there will be some surprises for the fans in observance of the day, including a specially designed court, similar to what the Association launched for its NBA Cup. “Now we’re doing our own version, and that will be the main creative flag for the fans, to build this cultural concept with the fan base,” he said.
The annual game comes at a time when interest in bringing an expansion franchise to Mexico City can’t seem to increase. With evaluations with NBA clubs continuing to rise and a new media deal that will bring in $76 billion in revenue over the next decade-plus, speculation about a new round of expansion is never too late. During his tenure as commissioner, the late David Stern envisioned adding an NBA team to Mexico City, and Arena CDMX checks all the boxes for an NBA-ready venue.
Current commissioner Adam Silver often repeats those hopes, saying before the party last November that “we are not in expansion mode for now, but over time organizations grow, and I think the opportunity to extend our footprint not only into Mexico City and all the positives… as a gateway into all of Central and Latin America is a huge opportunity with a growing game.” La Mexico The G-League’s City Capitanes, who have played in the city for the past three years, and the annual Mexico City Games appear to have laid the foundation for a permanent NBA presence in the city.
De Mello said NBA teams often raise their hands to play in the city, not only for the players and families to experience a new environment but also for their executives to evaluate the viability of playing there regularly. “When the teams come, the offices come, the governors come, everyone can see what it’s like to play in a city like Mexico City,” he said. “We have a wonderful arena where we have been playing for many years, a state-of-the-art arena. So, I think it’s all there. And every time our commissioner was asked, he always put Mexico in the game.
“We have the infrastructure, transportation, everything that is online with our standards, the security for sure that people feel confident that they can go to the game,” Zarraga added. “Our role as (the Latin American division) just makes sure we’re in the right place at the right time to be considered as solid candidates for potential opportunities.”
Of course, the NBA is not the only American premier men’s league that has made significant strides in extending its reach around the world, and certainly not the only one in Mexico. While fans and some business observers believe the NBA and its peer leagues are competing for limited fan attention, de Mello sees the opposite.
He referenced a discussion with someone at the NFL in September as the league made his debut in Brazil. The two exchanged notes to understand strategies for bringing their products to new countries. “Well, the sports business market, it’s small,” he said of their collaboration. “We don’t think we see the other leagues as competition because at the end of the day, it strengthens the market when we have all these entities activating.”
Zarraga agreed with de Mello, saying that competitors allocate resources against each other to obtain larger shares of the same market. “No one has done that in (Mexico),” he said. “On the contrary, we grow the pie together, and we have enough pie for the participants at the table.”
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