US sports leagues make a play for Mexico

Mexico City (AFP) - Football is king in Mexico but the NBA's latest regular-season game here highlighted the growing interest of US professional sports leagues to woo fans in the potentially huge market.

Not even smoke engulfing the arena two years ago could keep the National Basketball Association away from Mexico City.

Despite a 2013 generator malfunction that forced a game to be cancelled right before tipoff, the NBA held a regular-season contest in the mega-city for the second year in a row on Thursday.

The contest between the Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings underscored the growing desire of US basketball, American football and baseball leagues to tap a growing fan base that watches more than just "futbol."

"We consider Mexico a priority market where our business has grown and we see great potential," Philippe Moggio, NBA senior vice president for Latin America, told AFP as fans bedecked in Celtics green and Kings purple flocked into the arena.

While the game fell on the same night as the Mexican football league's semi-finals, nearly 19,000 fans packed into the 22,000-capacity Mexico City Arena, doing the wave as Boston crushed Sacramento, 114-97.

"Obviously football is a passion here. But we also have a very passionate fan base," Moggio said.

- Mexico franchise? -

A study by the league found that there are around 14 million NBA fans in the country of 118 million people, Moggio said in a courtside interview in the $300 million venue that was inaugurated in 2012.

NBA ratings on ESPN in Mexico grew by 40 percent in the 2014-2015 season as compared with the previous season, while the audience for the finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers surged by 70 percent.

The NBA has now staged three regular-season games -- 1997, 2014 and this year -- as well as 19 exhibitions in Mexico, the most held outside the United States and Canada.

While the league could hold more regular-season games in Mexico in the future, it has no plans to launch a franchise in the Latin American country at the moment.

But if the NBA was to expand abroad one day, Moggio said, Mexico would make "much more sense" than Europe because of its proximity to the United States.

"The market is very attractive to have a team here in terms of size, fans and commercial interest," Moggio said.

"We don't have plans to expand today but the moment that an opportunity arises, you always have to consider markets like this one as a potential."

The National Football League and Major League Baseball are also looking to increase their foothold in Mexico.

The NFL said in August that it was examining the possibility of staging regular-season games again.

The last time, in 2005, a record crowd of 103,467 crammed into Mexico City's Azteca stadium to watch the Arizona Cardinals defeat the San Francisco 49ers.

MLB may take the boldest step, as league commissioner Rob Manfred said in October that officials were "really interested" in potentially launching a franchise in Mexico.

"If we can find the right location, it is possible to support a team in Mexico economically. And an increased flow of Mexican players into the big leagues combined with a team in Mexico would help us with the Hispanic market in the US," Manfred told the Hollywood Reporter.

- Fans want more -

Ricardo Jurado, chief financial officer of sports marketing firm Global W Mexico, said baseball has a better chance of having a franchise here than American football or basketball.

Tickets for baseball games are usually cheaper than the other two sports and Mexicans have more professional players in the MLB than in the other leagues, he said.

But all three US sports have an audience in Mexico.

"Sports-wise, I can guarantee that Mexico is the number one country in Latin America. That's why they're coming here," Jurado told AFP. "We found in sports a way to satisfy a need to be entertained."

After the Celtics-Kings game, some fans hung out at the arena bar, happy to have seen something other than football.

"It's very important for Mexico's sports culture because football is the only thing that exists here," said Daniel Alvarez, a 25-year-old university student wearing a Celtics jersey and hat.

But when asked what was his favorite sport, Alvarez said: "Actually, it's football."