(Sponsored) Look at any of the major leagues in US sports, and you’ll see that all are looking to expand their global presence.
Football sees India and China as countries with huge potential, and baseball has its sights set on Japan.
Basketball is no different, except that one of its main points of focus is much closer to home.
With a population of over 667 million people and a huge enthusiasm for other sports like soccer, Latin America is a logical choice.
And, for some very good reasons, the NBA sees Mexico as the place to launch its campaign to bring the love of the hoops to the region.
A little history
Mexico has long been associated with the sport since the 1930s. This was when the then president, Lazaro Cardenas, had the task of helping the country to put years of violent revolution behind it.
One of the measures he took was to commission the building of basketball courts. The aim was to create open public spaces in which a fractured nation could reunite and begin to rebuild. Many of those courts are still in use today, along with many more.
Basketball retained its popularity over the decades, and ever since the late 1980s, there have been pre-season and some actual NBA games played in Mexico City.
There has also been a thriving indigenous basketball scene with the highest level being the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional. Founded in 2010 with ten teams participating, it now includes 14.
The Capitanes and the G League
After being established in 2017, the Mexico City-based team played in the LNBP for the first three years of their existence.
But, as the biggest team in the biggest city, they soon caught the eye of the NBA who had expansion plans on their minds.
So an official invitation to join the G League was issued – which the Capitanes gladly accepted. Their first game came in November 2021 when they defeated Memphis Hustle 95-90.
As a first step, it’s thought that the NBA might be looking to expand the G League throughout Latin America as time goes on, something that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has hinted at in the past.
Particular countries whose teams could be in line for inclusion are Brazil and Argentina, where the sport is also established and that have already provided players for the NBA in the past.
The changing shape of broadcasting
As with all professional sports, basketball’s popularity hinges on the number of fans who have access to games. So, reaching them is of critical importance to the major leagues.
This also has a knock-on effect for the sports betting that so many people find enhances their enjoyment of watching.
So it’s fortuitous in both respects that more and more people in Latin America now have access to the Internet.
In October 2023, airG, a Canadian content distributor, announced it had struck a deal with the NBA to offer a subscription service to fans in Latin America as well as across India and the Middle East. Subscribers can catch every NBA game either live or on-demand right up to the finals.
There have also been exciting developments in Brazil where the NBA use their links with Budweiser to show games via the beer giant’s social media channels.
They have also recently reached an agreement with influencer Alexandre Borba Chiqueta to livestream games on his Twitch feed which has around three million followers.
There are likely to be many other similar deals on the way.
Growing from the grass roots
Another strand in the strategy of expansion is to get more players from Latin America to play in the NBA, joining others like the Sacramento Kings’ Juan Toscano and Chris Duerte.
In 2023, The Cleveland Cavaliers recently won the NBA’s Team International Strategy Award for their dedicated strategy to growing the game of basketball and engaging with NBA fans in Brazil.
The Cavs are well down the pecking order in the NBA odds, but despite not being the best team, their work enabled them to gain plenty of new fans in South America.
While, January 2021 saw the start of the NBA Academy Latin America. This is a collaboration with La Loma in Mexico City, a world-class athletic facility.
Its aim is to provide an elite training program for promising prospects from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada.
Looking to the future
As already stated, the obvious aim is to eventually have one or more NBA teams in Latin America, with the academy feeding through players with the requisite talent.
However, ticket prices are one potential stumbling block to playing games south of the border.
To attract the crowds, these would have to be considerably lower than in the US, simply to reflect the economic differences that exist.
But that’s an issue for another. First the NBA needs to implant itself fully in Latin America.