It’s all about the money

The National Basketball Association is going (yet again) to Mexico.

NBA officials announced earlier this week that Phoenix will take on Philadelphia in a pre-season exhibition to be played at the Monterrey Arena, recently built in the northern Mexico city of some 2 million people.

IT’S PROBABLY BIG enough to have an NBA franchise of its own; not that I expect professional basketball in this country to expand internationally any time soon.

Yet the NBA is in the business of making money, and it has discovered that sports fans in Mexico will get a kick out of watching ball games – even between U.S. teams that have no direct allegiance among those sitting in the stands.

Heck, it’s not just basketball. Major League Baseball has held pre-season games in Mexico (including in Monterrey, which is usually one of the cities that gets some lip service whenever people dream of future expansion into Latin America), and the National Football League has staged exhibitions in Mexico City – using the Estadio Azteca that can seat up to 100,000 people for futbol matches.

A lot of it comes down to spectacle.

PEOPLE WITH SOME discretionary cash are often too willing to spend it to be able to say they “were there” when some pseudo-historic moment took place – which is the way some people are trying to bill the idea of an NBA game being played in Monterrey.

It’s only the second time the city has hosted such a game (the first was in 2006 – the Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets).

So what will the people of Monterrey be exposed to come October 18 when the Suns take on the 76ers?

For one thing, the Suns have Shaquille O’Neal. How will Shaq “play” among the Mexican public?

BY COMPARISON, THE 76ers have Elton Brand – the guy whom the Chicago Bulls once hoped would be the next Michael Jordan. I suspect Jordan himself would still go over bigger in Mexico than anybody on either of these teams – Shaq included.

But these games must do well, since this is the 18th NBA matchup staged in Mexico in recent years – making Mexico the most popular “foreign” destination for U.S. professional basketball – even moreso than Japan or any place in Europe (where the Bulls and the incredibly misnamed Utah Jazz will play an exhibition Oct. 6 in London).

Ultimately, it’s about the money.

The NBA likes the idea of people all around the globe buying merchandise with U.S. team logos, and probably wants to stir up enough interest in the U.S. game so that television networks in other countries would feel compelled to place bids for the right to broadcast NBA games.

THAT IS MORE money for the teams, at a time when economic struggles have some teams concerned about whether they can meet their skyrocketing expenses. After all, people worried about work might suddenly think their participation in a season ticket package might be a luxury that they can take a pass on this season or next.

So in the end, Shaq doing Monterrey isn’t about any altruistic goal or promoting any theme of international friendship.

It’s about trying to convert more people around the world into those kinds who will spend their money on all kinds of trashy souvenirs (although I will be the first to admit having purchased an occasional ball cap or two throughout the years).

I’m sure it also doesn’t hurt with the growing Latino population of this country who might be in a position to physically attend an NBA game or two.

THE LEAGUE LOOKS like it wants to reach out to Mexicans, which may very well cause a few Mexican-American sports fans to give the NBA a double take. Perhaps the Phoenix Suns figure they can get a few more fans into their arena by showing a willingness to make the flight about one hour south to Monterrey.

So how long will it be until the National Hockey League decides it too needs a few exhibitions in Latin America, if it wants to pick up a few fans among the growing Latino population in this country?

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EDITOR’S NOTES: The NBA isn’t Major League Baseball when it comes to Latino ballplayers. Basketball’s top league has 17 Latino athletes, while the American and National leagues (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/05/26/nba.mexico/) have about 40 percent of their players of Latino ethnic backgrounds.

Mexico-born, but U.S. educated, is Eduardo Najera (http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/najered01.html) of the New Jersey Nets.

They do play (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=372185) some hockey in Mexico.