How NBA Views Mexico In Its Global Growth Strategy

As the NBA continues to exert its international influence with events, clinics and televised games, the league has zeroed in on its southern neighbor.

“Mexico is one of the most important markets for the league,” said Raul Zarraga, the NBA’s Latin America and Canada Head of Operations.

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So much that the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers will play a regular-season game on Saturday at Arena CDMX (4 pm CT), marking the 35th game the NBA has held in Mexico City. Since 1978, the NBA has hosted more than 230 games in more than 20 countries outside of the United States and Canada. The majority of those games have taken place in Mexico City. Since 1992, the NBA has played 19 preseason games and 15 regular-season games in Mexico City. After hosting regular-season games in Mexico City for five consecutive years (2014-20), the NBA resumed the setup following the pandemic since 2022.

“Mexico City is the largest city in North America and a gateway to Latin America,” said Kelly Flatow, the NBA’s Global Head of Events. “It’s an important market for us, and it’s why we have played more games in Mexico City than any other country outside of the U.S. and Canada.”

That’s also partly why Mexico City may host an NBA expansion team eventually.

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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on “The Pat McAfee Show” earlier this month that “we’re still a few seasons away from actual expansion taking place.” Silver stressed that “discussions are ongoing between Las Vegas and Seattle.” But Silver added that “maybe down the road, there’s Mexico City” before describing the area as “a huge basketball base.”

“Mexico has the infrastructure, the fan base, the proximity and time zone,” Flatow said. “It’s not on the plans, per se, with Vegas and Seattle, as we all know. But our job locally is precisely to make sure the fanbase and the growth is big enough to grow our business.”

Hence, the NBA has established deeply rooted connections in Mexico, which the league estimated boasts 30 million NBA fans and is the second most played team sport there behind soccer. The NBA said that 21.6 million unique fans in Mexico watched live NBA games last season on Amazon Prime Video and ESPN. The NBA estimated that about 7.5 million Gen Z fans follow the league, which it considers a critical target audience to grow.

Start with Saturday’s regular-season game between Denver and Indiana, and the NBA’s efforts to bring what Flatow called “an authentic NBA game experience.”

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Former NBA players Nene Hilario, Greivis Vasquez, Danilo Gallinari and Horacio Llamas are attending the game. It will air on ESPN in Mexico, on NBA TV in the U.S. as well as on ESPN and Disney+ in other select international markets. Beginning at 1 pm CT, Arena CDMX will host various fan activation events. Earlier in the week, the NBA also held various clinics catered to coaches (Jr. NBA Coaches Academy), young players (Jr. NBA International Experience), girls (Her Time To Play) and children with local foundations (NBA Cares). During all of these events, the NBA paid homage to “Dias de Los Muertos” (Day of the Dead).

“To be able to recreate that experience in a local market is really the primary reason for us to bring games to international markets,” Flatow said.

There are secondary reasons, too.

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One of the NBA’s G League teams, Capitanes, has played at Arena CDMX since the 2022-24 campaign. That represents the lone G League team that plays outside of the U.S.

Last season, Capitanes ranked fourth in G League attendance and previously set the league’s all-time single-game attendance record with 19,328 fans at Arena CDMX (Jan. 4, 2025). It helped that Capitanes finished second in the Western Conference (24-12 ) and secured their first-ever playoff berth. Head coach Vitor Galvani also won NBA G League Coach of the Year honors.

“At the beginning, sometimes the altitude is a challenge for anyone that comes to Mexico,” Zarraga said. “But the games themselves are amazing. All of the fans inside the arena are behind one team. It’s not only the team for Mexico City. It’s the team representing Mexico in every single way.”

In turn, the NBA oversees events with Jr. NBA, Jr. WNBA, NBA Basketball School (youth) and Basketball Without Borders (elite) in Mexico to develop the country’s players.

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Granted, France (17), Canada (16), Australia (nine), Germany (seven), Nigeria (six) and Serbia (six) boast the most NBA representation out of the 125 international players this season. The NBA features only one Mexican-born player,(Memphis Grizzlies rookie Karim López) and there have been four others overall (Gustavo Ayón; 2011-14, Jorge Gutiérrez; 2014-16, Eduardo Nájera; 2000-12, and Horacio Llamas; 1996-98). Milwaukee’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., Phoenix’s Devin Booker and New York’s Jose Alvarado all have either a parent or grandparent born in Mexico. But the NBA expects those numbers to increase.

“We’ll always be dedicated as one of our main priorities to grow our talent in Mexico,” Zarraga said, “and to grow our participation together with this opportunity to build this kind of talent pipeline, including Junior NBA, Basketball Without Borders and Capitanes. Hopefully in the future, there can be players that can be in the NBA.”

Perhaps Saturday’s game could become a significant turning point.

“The experiences and fan-engagement opportunities last much longer than just the week of the games,” Flatow said. “That’s important that we create sustainable programming that’s year-round for our fans. The game itself is the pinnacle of that to be able to see two incredible teams take the court.”

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com