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NBA’s Annual Mexico City Game Builds Case for Future Expansion

jason clinkscales
·5 min read
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As the calendar moves away from the frantic sports equinox, the NBA stands to gain 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 major holidays, “Día de los Muertos” (“Day of the Dead”).

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For people unfamiliar with the holiday, having a basketball game take place then may seem odd if the only takeaway is the word “dead,” but in fact the holiday is as vibrant and festive as any globally. “It’s different than 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 to 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 hosted in Mexico City and Monterrey, and apart from seasons impacted by COVID-19, the league has hosted at least one regular season game at Arena CDMX (Mexico City Arena) since the 2014-15 season.

Washington will play its fourth game in the country while Miami will be playing in its third. Jaime Jaquez Jr., the Heat forward who was born in Irvine, Calif., has dual citizenship in both the U.S. and Mexico and played for the Mexican national team during the 2019 Pan American Games.

In addition to having a major rotational 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 league’s head of operations in Mexico, said that there will be some surprises for the fans in observance of the day, including a special designed court, akin to what the Association has rolled out for its NBA Cup. “Now we are doing our own version, and that’s what’ll 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 where interest in bringing an expansion franchise to Mexico City seemingly can’t get any higher. With valuations for 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 far behind. 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 reiterates those hopes, saying ahead of last November’s game that “we’re not in expansion mode at the moment, but over time organizations grow, and I think the opportunity to extend our footprint not just into Mexico City and all the positive attributes… as a gateway into all of Central and Latin America is a huge opportunity with a growing game.” The G League’s Mexico City Capitanes, which 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 that NBA teams frequently 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 assess the viability of playing there regularly. “When the teams come, front offices come, the governors come, everybody gets to see how it is to play in a city like Mexico City,” he said. “We have an amazing arena where we have been playing for many years, a state-of-the-art arena. So, I think everything is there. And every time that our commissioner has been asked, he always puts 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) is just making sure that we are the right place at the right time to be considered as a solid candidate for potential opportunities.”

Of course, the NBA isn’t the only U.S.-based major men’s league that has made significant strides in extending its reach across the globe, and most certainly not the only one in Mexico. While fans and some business observers believe that the NBA and its peer leagues are competing for limited attention from fans, de Mello sees the opposite.

He referenced a discussion with someone at the NFL in September as the league made its debut in Brazil. The two exchanged notes to understand strategies about bringing their products to new countries. “Well, the sports business market, it’s small,” he said about 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 designate resources against one another to get bigger 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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