The NBA seeks to increase the number of regular season games in Mexico and in 2019 a game is planned to be held in Monterrey, the company that organizes the league’s matches in Mexico announced today.
“Monterrey is in the crosshairs, the possibility is latent and present, it depends on the negotiations with the teams, which we started three or four months ago: The objective is to take a game outside of Mexico City,” he announced in a press conference Ignacio Sáenz, representative of Zigna Live, promoter of the games of the NBA in Mexico.
This year the United States professional basketball league will celebrate a couple of regular season commitments at the Arena Ciudad de México. The Orlando Mágic will play two games of the 2018-2019 season at home, against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, December 13, and against the Utah Jazz, on Saturday, December 15.
Among the expected figures in Mexico are, by the Orlando Magic, Aaron Gordon and rookie sensation Mohamed Bamba, by Chicago Bulls, Zach Lavine and Lauri Markkanen of Finland, and by Utah Jazz, Ricky Rubio and Rudy Gobert of France.
Since 1992 the NBA has organized preseason or official matches in Mexican territory and by the end of 2018 28 matches will have been played.
As if that were not enough, a contract was recently signed to extend the celebration of the games until 2020.
Raúl Zarraga, director of the office of the NBA In Mexico, he reported today that negotiations are being held with all the basketball league teams to open the invitation to play in the neighboring country in the following years.
«We are always looking to offer this opportunity to the different teams in the league to be able to come to Mexico, it is already a custom of the NBAorganize international games, but there are different interests such as the availability of teams to travel, “said Zarraga.
The goal of the NBA in Mexico is that fans can enjoy seeing not only their favorite teams but also live the experience of the most powerful league in the world.
In 2017 the NBA played four games in Mexico, marking for the first time holding regular season engagements in a country outside of the United States or Canada.
In 2016 the All-Star Game of the NBA It was held in Toronto, for which the possibility of taking this event to Mexico at some point is being studied, although it is not a short or medium-term plan.
“The All-Star Game was played outside the United States recently, for that reason there has been dialogue, but it is not something that we have under the radar for different reasons,” said Zarraga.
This Tuesday the sale of tickets for the matches of next December was announced, which will begin as of tomorrow in a restricted manner. EFE