Commissioner Adam Silver received several questions about expansion before the Heat and Spurs played Saturday in Mexico City, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. The league used to travel to Mexico frequently, but because of the pandemic, today marked the first NBA game in the country since 2019.
At a news conference prior to tip-off, Silver was peppered with questions about Mexico City someday being considered for an expansion team. His responses echoed comments made by NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum last month, saying the league isn’t ready to add teams, but the city will be a strong contender whenever that happens.
“In terms of Mexico City, I believe you’re doing all the things necessary to demonstrate to the league that ultimately we may be in position to house an NBA team here,” Silver said. “Certainly from a travel standpoint it’s very accessible, time zone wise, of course.”
Mexico City has hosted more than 30 NBA games in a relationship with the league that spans three decades. The G League’s Mexico City Capitanes recently began playing in Arena CDMX, which is considered to be an NBA-quality facility.
Silver cited research showing there are 30 million NBA fans in Mexico and said he hopes that number will increase as the country gets more media access to games.
“I’ll add one factor that I wouldn’t have thought of even when I was here in 2019,” Silver said. “We’re seeing a faster transformation to streaming than I would have predicted even a few years ago, and when you move to streaming platforms and you’re talking to these partners that are very much global, I think the addition of a team, for example, in Mexico might have a very different impact and relevance to them than maybe a historical U.S.-based media partner.”
Many of the players who participated in this year’s trip to Mexico City were impressed by what they saw, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. On Friday, they attended a Capitanes game where the crowd cheered intensely from start to finish while beating drums and chanting the team’s name.
“It was crazy,” said Spurs rookie Blake Wesley. “I was like, ‘How is it this many people for a G League game?’ I enjoyed it. It was fun.”
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, who has been involved in many of the NBA games in Mexico, believes the city has earned consideration when the league decides to expand.
“That’s above my pay grade to decide where the teams go, but I know they love it,” he said. “It’s a viable place for such an endeavor, and I have no doubt that Adam and his crew are doing everything they can to decide whether that should happen.”
Why can’t El Paso get a professional sports team of any kind?
Because it’s El Paso
The NBA need to contract at least 4 teams not expand. The quality of play is best at 26 teams.
They player pool can definitely support expansion. There has never been as much talent in the league as there is now. The problem is the prevalence of injury management and tanking on top of actual injuries that saps some juice from that. But that is mostly a separate issue.
Still, the league continues to expand globally so there’s no reason not to expect that talent pool to further increase with time. And there are markets more than ready to support an NBA team. It will happen within the next 5-10 years.
Seattle should be in the running.
There’s too much talent in the league as is…
The bad teams all have players to build around…
2 more teams just means more basketball and more chances for stars to shine…
4 less teams… Well LA and NY don’t need 2, whilst Texas and Florida also have too many… So it’s not that hard to constrict… It’ll just make the G-league more watchable…
NBA absolutely needs to get rid of some teams from this diluted pool of talent.
Can we please kill this idea already? I can’t name more than one player that would want to play in Mexico City lmao
That’s true you gotta have home games there. That’s such a free agency impediment almost as bad as having to live in Sacramento.
What are the taxes like?
You could say the same about many teams…
At least Mexico has a solid passionate fan base unlike quite a few teams…
Have you ever actually been there? Players would prefer it over a dozen NBA cities.
Heck ya go to Mexico you’re already in Canada why not go to Mexico!? Prob cuz the cost of entry is too high gonna put a buncha rich people out of business cut into the futbol revenues. Hard to find a group of people that went to business with Americans and didn’t come out on top. Except for all of them
Many possible cities like Seattle, San Diego, San Juan & Mexico City… maybe we can have 4 new teams, right?
Wrong. Nearly a third of current NBA teams are unwatchable. As above commenters have noted, the NBA needs to contract at least 4 teams… not expand.
The players’ overall attitude toward playing for small-market teams means those teams will never be able to retain talent; therefore, those teams have no hope of winning a championship. Small market teams are therefore de facto minor league teams masquerading as NBA teams.
26 NBA franchises are more than enough.
Completely vacuous reasoning which is doubtlessly based primarily on win/loss records.
Mexico City would be a great place for the NBA to move to… Passionate fans, weather that doesn’t scare away those who don’t like snow and good food…
To top it all off it’s a smart business move with a new media deal on the horizon… More global eyes tuned in…
Not to mention the kidnappings and general random crime. Plus the disdain towards Americans.
Sounds like any US city…
The way the average US racist views Mexico is the way the rest of the world views the US…
The land where crime pays…
Pump the breaks on calling people racist bro. Yes, you are not totally wrong about Mexico City, but assuming everyone who thinks crime is high in Mexico is absurd. Would players be more willing to play in Mexico City than, say, Detroit if they had swapped places? Probably, but there’s a lot of messaging that hurts the rep of any city in Mexico, whether deserved or not.
“…but there’s a lot of messaging…”
… that is mostly based on xenophobic myths and racist U.S. stereotypes, regardless of the truth, as proven in my post below.
Creative euphemism, though. I guess the “messaging” regarding ethnic minorities is in dire need of improvement in certain societal circles.
Mexico City Cartel!!!
That the team name? I’d love to see their logo.
7349′ above sea level … whew … expansion in Mexico City, Seattle, Las Vegas, and ….. ?
Adam Silver and the NBA know that there are NOT enough fans will to pay for NBA streaming in the United States to maintain the current financial structure. Thus, the focus turns to International teams for expansion, with the idea that they will have fans that will pay for the streaming of games.
We will see a dramatic reduction in player salaries and owner profits if they cannot figure out how to make streaming as profitable as ESPN way overpaying for broadcast rights. At some point sooner rather than later, cable will be decoupled from the Internet, and the masses will exit cable by the millions.
In context the US market is a drop in the ocean compared to what the streaming services are aiming at…
The NBA is not Soccer. It ain’t popular like that.
The people of most of the countries in the world cannot afford to pay a price to make it profitable.
China will still hold the ability to ban it.
U.S. Americans mouthing off about foreign countries’ crime rates really takes the cake.
Homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in U.S. cities with professional sports franchises for 2021:
St. Louis – 87,8
Baltimore – 58,6
New Orleans – 51,8
Memphis – 48.7
Detroit – 47,9
Cleveland – 44,0
Philadelphia – 35,7
Milwaukee – 34,3
Atlanta – 32,0
Washington, D.C. – 31,9
Oakland – 30,9
Kansas City – 30,7
Chicago – 29,6
Cincinnati – 28,2
Indianapolis – 27,1
Las Vegas – 23,5
Minneapolis – 22,1
Houston – 20,3
Dallas – 16,5
Pittsburgh – 14,3
Denver – 14,1
Jacksonville – 13,4
Portland – 12,9
Phoenix – 12,2
Oklahoma City – 11,9
San Antonio – 11,6
Charlotte – 11,1
Sacramento – 10,9
Miami – 10,7
Los Angeles – 10,3
…
Mexico City, MEX – 10,0
There are at least 108 U.S. cities with higher homicide rates than Mexico City.
Why would any professional athlete want to play in any of the above mentioned poverty- and crime-ridden U.S. sh*tholes?
Besides the homicide rate the overdose death levels in cities like Philly and Cleveland are high. In Cleveland it’s ussually 3 times or greater the murder rate.
I feel for Seattle basketball fans. NBA is obsessed with globalization yet they neglect some of its most diehard domestic fans. Not sure the NBA can compete with La Liga, World Cup, etc. in Latin America.
Lakers vs. Celtics and they decide to wear some awful, unrecognizable alternate uniforms. The NBA has forgone tradition to cater to this new, global market and it’s hard watch…. Cringe worthy as the kids would say
You’re absolutely correct there, waldfee, and if you start including rural areas, most crime rates report significantly higher than inner cities on a per capita basis. You could have presented your point without the use of phrasing like, “sh*tholes and made the point intelligently, but taking the route of calling cities like San Antonio or Phoenix “crime-ridden sh*tholes” simply makes you sound churlish.
Incidentally, I’ve had the pleasure of living in Arizona for a while. And I’ve also been to San Antonio.
Yeah, Phoenix is pretty much a sh*ithole outside of Scottsdale/Paradise Valley, just take South Central Ave towards West Baseline.
Not to mention both cities’ innumerable homeless camps.
Once one compares U.S. cities to its peers in civilized countries, it’s pretty clear who lives in a dumpster.
For example, Munich, GER, counted 6 (six!) homicides in 2020, in a city of 1,5 million inhabitants. That’s 0.4 homicides per 100,000 and a 31 times lower rate than Phoenix.
I’d suggest you start traveling a bit instead of being offended by an unpleasant reality.
Dude one hell of a player but is fragile as glass! Should start drinking some more milk!