Business is booming for the NBA and there has been some expansion talk for a while now. The NBA hasn’t added a new team in nearly two decades, with the Charlotte Bobcats being the last new entrants back in 2004. We have had rumors floating around for a long time about Seattle getting a team after the Supersonics relocated in 2008 and more recently, Las Vegas has emerged as another strong candidate for a new team.
LeBron James stated that he wants to own a team in Las Vegas and the billionaire might well be in a position to purchase a significant stake once his playing days are over. Commissioner Adam Silver was quite happy to hear that as well, but he said that expansion isn’t really at the front of their minds at this moment. While Seattle and Las Vegas have been touted as the likeliest destinations, it would appear that there is another location that is being seriously considered as a potential candidate and that is Mexico City.
Mexico City Could Have The Next Expansion Team
In 2019, Silver announced that Capitanes de Ciudad de Mexico would become the first Mexican team in the G-League from the 2020-21 season. COVID-19 restrictions meant that their entry was delayed and they couldn’t play home games last season either, but the landmark moment finally came recently as they played against the Rio Grand Vipers in Mexico on Sunday night. Deputy commissioner Mark Tatum gave Mexican fans some more good news when he said that Mexico City would very much be under consideration when an expansion takes place.
via Andscape:
“Expansion is currently not on the docket, but at some point, if we were to turn to expansion, there’s no doubt that Mexico City would have to be one the cities that would be in consideration along with a host of other very big and relevant cities in North America,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum told Andscape. “One of the biggest challenges around international expansion has always been the travel issues, the facility issues. But there is a world-class facility in Mexico City in Arena CDMX, which is where we’ve been playing our games and our global games in Mexico. And that’s actually the home of the G League team, the Capitanes. And so that’s not an issue.”
It does tick a lot of boxes and the NBA has played plenty of games in Mexico as it is. There is one planned for this season as well, with the Spurs taking on the Heat in December.
It would appear that we’d have to wait for the new TV deals to get agreed on before this expansion talk seriously picks up. We have to say it has gotten to a point now, where the NBA should expand, as the league just seems to be overflowing with talent right now.
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