Mexico City Reportedly In Consideration To Have Own NBA Franchise

Talk of the NBA expanding to 32 teams has been a hot topic recently among fans and even current players, with most expecting Las Vegas and Seattle to get their own franchises.

However, a surprising contender has risen and it comes from their friends south of the border, namely Mexico.

ESPN's Marc Spears revealed last week that the league is considering Mexico City as a possible option in a conversation with NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum.

"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," Tatum said.

He did acknowledge that there is a "world-class facility in Mexico City in Arena CDMX," the home of the NBA G League team, the Capitanes, and noted that flying to Mexico is not going to be a problem for "Texas teams, Florida teams, New Orleans team" and Arizona by extension.

This had fans understandably excited about the possibility since it opens up a new market for the NBA since it contains 22 million people and is the sixth largest city in the world this year according to Spears' research.

In what appears to be a market test for the NBA, the Capitanes had their first-ever home game against the Rio Grand Valley Vipers – a 120-84 blowout win for the Capitanes and Spears in attendance for that game.

On a recent episode of NBA Today, Spears doubled down on the Mexico expansion and explained how important that game was in bolstering their chances.

"They've been waiting for two years because of the pandemic to get to Mexico City, they're finally there... They have a 22,000-seat arena... This would be five times bigger than New York – the biggest market in the NBA if they join," Spears said.

"From what I'm hearing, Mark Tatum said that Mexico City is in current consideration. Move to the side Las Vegas, move to the side Seattle. Mexico City, which could also open the door to Latin America, is a legit contender when the NBA talks expansion."

Should the NBA consider bringing in Mexico City to the fold, the NBA will have a captured market and possibly initially market it as Mexico's team similar to the Toronto Raptors in Canada.

Opening up the NBA to cover a large chunk of the American landmass opens up a ton of opportunities for both the league and players aspiring to make it to the big leagues.

Because of the growing interest in a Mexico-based team, NBA commissioner Adam Silver can expect to hear more fans clamoring for it to happen as the weeks roll on.