As the calendar moves away from the hectic sports equinox, the NBA will gain more attention for its early-season action with its annual trip to Mexico.

The Miami Heat and Washington Wizards play in Mexico City on Saturday as the NBA hosts another regular-season game south of the border, this time during one of Mexico’s most important holidays, “Día de los Muertos” (“Day of the Dead”). ”).

To people unfamiliar with the holiday, it may seem strange that a basketball game is taking place when the only takeaway is the word “death,” but in fact the holiday is as lively and festive as any other holiday in the world. “It’s different from how we celebrate this day around the world,” Arnon de Mello, general manager of NBA Canada and Latin America, said in a video interview. “Going to Mexico (‘Day of the Dead’) is really a celebration. It’s a happy day, so it will be great to combine that with this great experience of an NBA game in the city.

The league’s connection to Mexico dates all the way back to 1992, with regular preseason games in Mexico City and Monterrey, and aside from seasons impacted by COVID-19, the league has hosted at least one regular season game at the Arena CDMX (Mexico City Arena). ) since the 2014-2015 season.

Washington is playing its fourth game in the country, while Miami is playing its third game. Jaime Jaquez Jr., the Heat forward who was born in Irvine, California, has dual citizenship in both the US and Mexico and played for the Mexican national team at the 2019 Pan American Games.

In addition to having a large rotation player of Mexican descent on the field, Saturday will be special because the match will be played during the holiday for the first time. Raul Zarraga, the league’s chief of operations in Mexico, said there will be a number of surprises for fans during the day, including a specially designed court similar to what the association rolled out for the NBA Cup. “Now we are making our own version, and that will be the main creative banner for the fans, to build this cultural concept together with the fan base,” he said.

The annual game comes at a time when interest in bringing an expansion franchise to Mexico City seemingly couldn’t get any bigger. With valuations for NBA clubs continuing to rise and a new media deal set to bring in more than $76 billion in revenue over the next decade, speculation about a new round of expansion is never far behind. During his tenure as commissioner, the late David Stern envisioned adding an NBA team to Mexico City, and Arena CDMX checks off all the boxes for an NBA-ready venue.

Current Commissioner Adam Silver often echoes this hope, saying prior to last November’s competition that “we’re not in expansion mode right now, but organizations will grow over time, and I think the opportunity to expanding our footprint not only to Mexico City and so the positive attributes… as a gateway to all of Central and Latin America is a huge opportunity with a growing play.” The G League’s Mexico City Capitanes, who have played in the city for the past three years, and the annual Mexico City Games appear to have laid the foundation for a permanent NBA presence in the city.

De Mello said NBA teams regularly raise their hands to play in the city, not only so the players and families can experience a new environment, but also so their executives can assess the feasibility of playing there regularly. “When the teams come, the front offices come, the governors come, everyone can see what it’s like to play in a city like Mexico City,” he said. “We have a great arena where we have been playing for many years, a state-of-the-art arena. So I think everything is there. And every time our commissioner is asked, he always brings Mexico into the game.

“We have the infrastructure, the transportation, everything online to our standards, the assurance that people are confident they can go to the game,” Zarraga added. “Our role as (the Latin American division) is just to ensure that we are in the right place at the right time to be considered a solid candidate for potential opportunities.”

Of course, the NBA isn’t the only U.S.-based major men’s league that has made significant progress in expanding its reach around the world, and certainly not the only one in Mexico. While fans and some business observers believe the NBA and its fellow leagues are competing for limited fan attention, De Mello sees the opposite.

He was referring to a conversation with someone at the NFL in September when the league made its debut in Brazil. The two exchanged notes to understand strategies for bringing their products to new countries. “Well, the corporate sports market is small,” he said of their partnership. “We don’t think we see the other leagues as competition because ultimately it strengthens the market if all these entities are activated.”

Zarraga agreed with De Mello, saying competitors are pitting resources against each other to gain larger shares in the same market. “No one has done that in Mexico,” he said. “On the contrary, we grow the cake together, and we have enough cake for the participants at the table.”