On the future of the NBA in Mexico, from the Global Games to a franchise

MEXICO CITY: No city outside the United States or Canada has hosted more regular season NBA games than Mexico City. So it should come as no surprise that the annual tilts held in the Mexican capital are the frequent backdrop for rumbles about the league setting up shop on a more permanent basis in the largest metropolis on the continent.

In recent years, however, the league making a return to the Pacific Northwest to put a new team back in Seattle, Washington along with a new team in Las Vegas, Nevada seemed a fait accompli, and with it, hope for an NBA team in the city faded. But before the start of the 2026 season, it was announced at an NBA Board of Governor’s meeting that Mexico City was back in the mix with a potential ownership group and arena district lined up. Still, the Mexico City Game has been and will likely remain the gem in the crown of the league that is their Global Games series, a yearly accomplishment on its own signifying the nascent talent and fandom of Latin America now percolating into the league’s ranks.

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To learn more, the Rookie Wire caught up with NBA Latin America and Canada Head of Operations Raul Zarraga ahead of the 2026 Mexico City Game between the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers. From the state of the Association in Mexico, and what the future of Mexico City Games and NBA expansion in the region might look like, our conversation covered the gamut and then some.

This interview has been lightly edited for the purposes of clarity and brevity.

Rookie Wire: What it is you do with regard to the Mexico City games?

Raul Zarraga: Of course. The Global Game – it’s a great opportunity for us. You have this life experience for fans and partners and everyone in the community, and all the people enjoying the game. Keep in mind that less than one percent of people around the world have the opportunity to be in-person for a regular season NBA game. And that’s why it’s very important for us to give a piece of that action to all the fans in Mexico. I wish we could have many more games available for fans. But we are very happy with the experience so far.

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It’s sold out in a couple of days. The two amazing teams, we’re really looking forward to (having them) here: the Pacers and the Nuggets. The Pacers for the first time, the Nuggets the second, and it’s a whole celebration together, a unique way to mix two very important components: entertainment and the culture. Something that the fans are really looking for, regardless if they are core, casual, (or) curious fans of our 30 million fans (in Latin America), this is a great opportunity to enjoy the NBA. And we have other assets at the Capitanes (Mexico City’s G League team) as well for live experiences. So we have this regular season (game), and then we tip off the season for Capitanes for 21 games of regular season happening here.

So, it’s a great momentum for players, for legends, for the fans, for the community, for the partners, for the people watching the game through the different kind of content channel, the distribution channels, and again, as I said, it’s just the beginning of an amazing season that is ahead of us this 2026.

RW: We’ve noticed the logistics seem to get more streamlined every year. This year in particular, we’ve noticed things are running very smoothly. How much of that is a conscious effort, and how much of it is experience?

RZ: First of all, thank you for recognizing! I would say it’s a combination of teamwork, talent, and people that has been here. This is my game No. 18 or 19, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve been 18 years in the league, so around that. And I love to see many of the same faces after all these years. It’s expertise together with new talent helping us to streamline processes with different technologies. Even AI, all this new technology that helps to organize and communicate things in a better, more efficient way.

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The global mindset of teams and players and staff and all the people around the game (too). They’ve been traveling to China and then Europe, or they go to Europe and Latin America, Brazil, or Canada. This mindset of understanding the culture is very important. When we have, for instance, training presentations to the teams, to the staff, we have this group that helps people to understand the local culture, the way that we do things here in Mexico as a country, and that helps the staff to understand the best way to move around.

It helps also to understand how they can approach different kind of requests. That’s the mindset of the global entity. We’re a global league that really understands the market, and we spend a lot of time understanding the local dynamic to make sure that we keep learning to make the best possible experience for our three main audiences: fans, partners, and of course, for the teams. Partners as you, as the media, because we consider media as a partner helping us to communicate the things that we want to communicate, and the fans want to listen.

RW: The Mexico City Game has become something of an All-Star game of sorts. Could you tell me more about how the future of Mexico City games might continue unfolding?

RZ: Thank you for that comparison. The All-Stars, of course, are the best of the best, but I would say that the experience (is) for everyone. We have the same people organizing the All Star Game here in different ways. Partner activation, operations, the whole operation of the arena, that the security team, the basketball operations team, all of them. It is kind of a celebration as well.

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Of course, All-Star is a celebration, and it’s a very important opportunity to be a fan, to watch the teams, the players, to enjoy life as well. The experience we have learned from All-Star could be also translated here to different fan activations, and you’ve been at the arena. You’ve been at concourse level. (There’s) that kind of fun day, fun fest we organized three hours before the tip-off of the game.

Every market has a different way to celebrate the game. All-Star for sure is an iconic experience … but here we have the same kind of (experience) for our local fan base, (to) celebrate with fans, with content creators. For instance, we are we are doing something unique this year, a content creators club, bringing creators from different parts of Canada, Brazil, of course Mexico, and give them access to share, communicate, to tell the people what is going on with a different kind of language many fans are using right now, especially with the NBA. We have 30 million fans and around 25 percent are Gen Z fans, people consuming content all day on all kinds of mobile devices … this format helps to communicate to them in a different way.

The Game starts when we do the announcement, and start doing promotions … we broke the record with people registered in the system to for pre-sale (tickets). The Pacers will be having … special merchandise around Día de Muertos. Día de Muertos, for instance, is a great way to combine culture and entertainment for fans here and for the people visiting us from different countries.

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RW: Have there been considerations to have a summer league, NBA Cup, or All-Star game in Mexico City?

RZ: Putting aside the other components about the cup and everything, no, not at this moment. Ideas are floating about the different things that we could do here. But at this point, there are no plans to have any summer league or All-Star game here in Mexico. We definitely have the market. It’s the largest city in North America. It has the time zone, the infrastructure, the fan base here to have to do many things and really grow, keep growing our footprint in the market.

Right now, our focus is based on three main components: Participation, live experience, and availability of our of content. We have content, of course, our games, video, and ESPN. We have around eight million followers in Mexico and 30 million followers in Latin America, having around just Mexico 200 million interactions on social media and 700 million in Latin America during the past season. So our focus right now is also making sure that the NBA is available in any of its formats to the fans.

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RW: A question that always comes up when we have a Mexico City game is NBA expansion. We understand there was a need for an arena with practice facilities, and a potential ownership group. Why is expansion to Mexico in the news again?

RZ: Everything remains as the commissioner mentioned before us up to date. We’ve been focused on growing the fan base here as one of the main strategies. Taking into consideration, of course, that basketball is the second most practiced team sport here in Mexico, and of course, more basketball courts than any other sport.

The official version has been already shared by Adam (Silver), and it’s going to remain the same until the NBA decides something different. The arena is an amazing arena to keep having our regular season games in. it’s actually so good that Capitanes are playing there as well. We have a great relationship with Zignia, and our focus remains there.

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RW: Why would you say that this is such a priority market?

RZ: Because of the time time zone for sure, proximity. Even the Hispanic market as well. The Hispanic market, as you know, is huge in the U.S. and that helps a lot … And it’s part of the global offer that we have for fans and partners. Part of that, for instance, is Prime Video (of) Mexico, Brazil. Latin America was one of the first regions starting streaming games of Prime Video.

And that’s because we are very close, of course, and we have the same time zones in many of the games, and it’s very helpful … we’re a global entity, and have a footprint around all the world: China, India, Africa, Europe, Canada, and Latin America. We have players, legends, we have a basketball framework.

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RW: We have NBA Africa. We are going to have NBA Europe. Has there ever been discussion of NBA Latin America?

RZ: We understand Latin America is a very good opportunity to expand our interaction with authorities. We have a great relationship with FIBA Americas, and Basketball Without Borders is a great example. We constantly do this camp in Latin America, with them to identify the talent that in the future could be there. Several players that are currently at the NBA started there, (like) someone from the academy in San Luis Potosí, Benedict Mathurin. He used to play for the Pacers. So, talent has been promoted and identified. It’s not easy to be in the NBA, as we all know.

It’s a very, very competitive environment for any player. But I can tell you that our basketball programs remain one of the most important initiatives that we keep building all around the region. Talking to trainers, coaches, physical educators, kids, to communities to ensure that they can have the best possible basketball infrastructure to keep playing the game, whether it is something that in the future could be translated to a player, to the Capitanes, or to any other league in the market that they are operating.

We are currently not focused on replicating something that has been done in Africa or in Europe here in Latin America. Because we are focused on the things that I previously mentioned. The future, we’re really optimistic about the things that we can keep doing to grow our fan base, and of course, the opportunity for the people to play basketball.

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RW: The Capitanes have been around for about a decade. Could you tell us about how their role has changed and how you see their future developing?

RZ: I remember the tip off when I was in Memphis, if I’m not mistaken, for their first game. We were all trying to understand (their role), the ownership group, the players, us, everything. Now that I see the team, the way that they are assembled, the way they played the previous season, getting into the playoffs, the way they broke the record of (G League) attendance. It was a huge, an amazing experience. So like everything, it takes time to understand the role that they have.

Now, I see a very solid group of people dedicated to make the best possible team that they can, including the ownership group … and a group of young entrepreneurs really looking to keep growing this unique project that they have, being the first (non-US) expansion that the G League has had besides in Canada … it’s just such a unique thing. It’s an iconic component of our footprint here in Mexico. And I see that evolution with the fans as well.

I see the classic cheer of Capitanes. The partners as well, ESPN broadcasting the games. Viewership also keeps increasing. The level of interaction, the talent pipeline, and when you are in the game and you see people precisely having this kind of experience for 21 games in regular season, it’s something that definitely has grown in all the simple metrics – audience, attendance, merchandising, even participation. They have basketball schools in Mexico City promoting the brand and the opportunity for them to have more fans.

RW: Thank you very much!

RZ: Absolutely. Thank you!

This article originally appeared on Rookie Wire: On the future of the NBA in Mexico, from the Global Games to a franchise

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