While most fans would think about Seattle or Las Vegas for a new NBA expansion team, another city south of the border is quietly picking up steam as an emerging basketball market. According to ESPN insiders, the place is Mexico City and it already has a track record in the NBA.
“The widespread belief among league and team sources that we have talked to is that Seattle and Las Vegas are the logical landing points for a pair of new expansion teams,” wrote ESPN. “But that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be some twists and turns in the process.”
“If there is another city to jump into the mix, the most likely one to do so is Mexico City. The most populous city in North America, the capital of Mexico has been a consistent host of NBA regular-season games since 1992, and the 33 games played there since then are the most anywhere outside of the United States and Canada. Mexico City is home to the G League’s Capitanes and would provide the league with an opening into the Latin and South American markets as well as another international city. However, there are a lot of logistical hurdles to overcome for an NBA team to exist there full time.”
For years, the debate has been between Las Vegas and Seattle for a new expansion team. The former has been pushed by LeBron James as a post-retirement project while the latter has been a longtime desire of basketball fans from the Pacific Northwest.
Unlike Vegas, Seattle used to have a team in the past and they were a devoted fandom until the SuperSonics were changed to the Thunder in 2008. They’ve been advocating for a return ever since and with the NBA moving closer to expansion, everyone has assumed it would be Las Vegas to get a team first.
But now, it seems Mexico City could also be in the mix and it may be the best opportunity for the NBA to expand its audience and increase its worldwide footprint. The city is home to 8.85 million people and stands as the most populous city in North America.
With the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies before them, the NBA has already stretched beyond the borders of the United States. Adding another team to the south will attract millions of new fans and establish roots with an entirely new demographic of people.
So far, Mexico City has no basketball presence aside from the G-League Capitanes but the league has hosted events in the city before, including multiple regular-season games, since 1992.
As for when a potential expansion team could arrive, it’s anyone’s guess when the time is right but Adam Silver has hinted that it could be here sooner rather than later — although, it seems like it’s still a few years out. Once the league enters its new media rights deal next season, and with a new CBA, we should have a better idea about when new expansion teams will enter the fold.
Whether it’s now or somewhere down the road, Mexico City is going to be up for consideration as a new expansion franchise and the league has so much to gain from planting a new team there.
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