What: The NBA's Mexico series last weekend is another step forward in the league's strong presence south of the border.
Why it matters: Priming the pump for Mexican growth is not just smart for fan engagement, it could open a whole new geographic region for NBA action.
The idea of "honoring Latino culture” in professional sports has come a long way from slapping Los on a jersey and bringing in a Mariachi band. While many teams still struggle to figure out exactly how to engage and bring in brands, or as one executive said, identify what exactly “Hispanic” or “Latino” means and how is that audience, the continued value-add in engagement grows exponentially with each passing year. As that fast-growing demo becomes more engaged, more affluent, and more on the radar of professional sports, the opportunity to capture and cultivate a fan base rises on the priority list.
Case in point is the NBA () and Mexico, which again entered the conversation with this past weeks regular season games in Mexico City. While China, India, and even Europe remain a big priority for brand engagement and fan development, is Mexico the real next stop for expansion?
This weekend again showed the value, and the passion, that the Mexican market can bring.
Now, of course, the NBA isnt the only league now looking more steadily to the neighbors to the south. The NFL (), even with its recent field issues in Mexico, has targeted the country () as a growth opportunity. Major League Baseball () has the most natural connection through the culture of sport and the Latino community, and soccer, especially with the business relationship that exists with the Mexican National Team and Soccer United Marketing and the growing relationship with MLS () and Liga MX () still the most viewed professional soccer matches in all of the Americas on a weekly basis) are all making inroads into the casual, and affluent fan base of Mexico. Heck even hockey, as pointed out in our recent piece on the L.A. Kings grassroots efforts to the south, is trying to find a niche. But will the NBA, always seeming to be a public step ahead of the others in business development, make the biggest and most successful next step?
There are certainly a lot of reasons to see if thats where the race will lead. The first steps according to NBA commissioner Adam Silver in the growth of professional basketball not just in Mexico but in the rest of Latin America, are coming. Step one could be as early as next winter, when the NBA will put a G League team in Mexico City. Another step would be the building and fitting of more NBA quality facilities for both in cities throughout the rest of Mexico and Latin America. That obviously will take time.
Join us at PORTADA LOS ANGELES on March 15, 2019 at the Loews Beach Hotel Santa Monica, where we will dive deep into sports and soccer marketing's preeminent topics. Felix Palau, VP Marketing, Heineken will discuss "How to measure ROI and transfer best practices between sports marketing platforms". Other speaking engagements include Tiago Pinto, Global Marketing Director, Gatorade who will provide answers to the question: "Will Corporate America jump on the soccer opportunity?"Attendees will also be able to benefit from Portada's meet-up service of three-eight-minute meetings with top brand executives!
"I believe we can be the No. 1 sport in the world," Silver said recently. "When I look at the trajectory of growth, the fact that young people, boys and girls, continue to love this sport, are playing this sport, are engaged in the sport of basketball on social media or with online games, I don't know what the limit is."
One seemingly limitless next step is the continued push by teams to market to a growing fan base. This weekend again showed the value, and the passion, that the Mexican market can bring, and none of that was lost on the clubs like the Orlando Magic () who participated this weekend. The other team that continues to grow in popularity in the country? The Chicago Bulls ().
A study commissioned by the NBA in July found that the Bulls were the favorite team of 18 percent of fans in Mexico, behind only the Los Angeles Lakers (20 percent) and well ahead of the defending champion Golden State Warriors () (10 percent). The Bulls were also a top-three favorite of 42 percent of fans polled, second again to the Lakers () (45 percent).
"To have a team so well-followed and loved like the Bulls in the country, it's a very important step for us," added Raul Zarraga, managing director of NBA Mexico in a conversation with AP last week.
Since the league's formal return to Mexico in 2014 as part of the NBA's Global Games initiative, six regular-season games have been played in the country, including a record four in 2017.
With expansion not that close, but certainly starting to be rumored in cities like Seattle for some time in the next decade, 2025 or so, and with the Olympics coming back to North America in 2026, priming the pump for Mexican growth is not just smart for fan engagement, it could open a whole new geographic region for NBA action, an area which may make more sense than the once fertile vision of franchise growth abroad.
Whether Mexico becomes a home for the NBA is anyones guess. One is more of a sure thing is that the powers that be see the opportunity, both with existing franchises trying to capitalize on engagement with Latino fans, and for the league as a whole looking to identify and grow in new markets with both brands and fans from the grassroots up.
The times of yelling “Olé” and checking the Latino marketing box around basketball are long gone; business expansion has really arrived.
Subscribe to Portada's daily Sports Marketing Updates!
Joe Favorito @joefav
Joe Favorito has over 32 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. The Brooklyn, New York native has managed the day-to- day activities in strategic communications for: Two of the worlds hallmark sports and entertainment brands (the New York Knickerbockers and Philadelphia 76ers), the worlds largest professional sport for women (the WTA Tour), the worlds largest sports National Governing Body (the United States Tennis Association) and the worlds largest annual sporting event (the US Open). He also oversaw the strategic planning, investor relations, communications and digital business development of the International Fight League during its two year run as a Mixed Martial Arts venture and a publicly traded company. Favorito serves on the boards of the Weinstein Carnegie Group, New York Sports Venture Capital, the National Sports Marketing Network, the Drexel University Sports Business program, and Columbia Universitys Sports Management program (where he is an instructor in Strategic Communications and Director of Industry Relations). Joe also maintains a well trafficked blog on the sports marketing and publicity field, “Sports Marketing and PR Roundup,” on the website joefavorito.com, as well authoring the first- ever text on the sports publicity industry (“Sports Publicity” published in August 2007 by Reed Elsevier and updated in 2012 by Taylor Publishing with a third printing coming in 2018), which is used in over 60 sports management programs in the U.S. He has been a guest speaker on sports marketing, social media and communications at a host of institutions, including Princeton University, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, the University of Florida Law School, New York University, the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and many others. He is also a frequent spokesperson on the industry for publications ranging from Ad Age and The New York Times to NPR and CBS News. A graduate of Fordham University, Joe, his wife and two children reside in River Vale, New Jersey.
What: The NBA's Mexico series last weekend is another step forward in the league's strong presence south of the border.
Why it matters: Priming the pump for Mexican growth is not just smart for fan engagement, it could open a whole new geographic region for NBA action.
The idea of "honoring Latino culture” in professional sports has come a long way from slapping Los on a jersey and bringing in a Mariachi band. While many teams still struggle to figure out exactly how to engage and bring in brands, or as one executive said, identify what exactly “Hispanic” or “Latino” means and how is that audience, the continued value-add in engagement grows exponentially with each passing year. As that fast-growing demo becomes more engaged, more affluent, and more on the radar of professional sports, the opportunity to capture and cultivate a fan base rises on the priority list.
Case in point is the NBA () and Mexico, which again entered the conversation with this past weeks regular season games in Mexico City. While China, India, and even Europe remain a big priority for brand engagement and fan development, is Mexico the real next stop for expansion?
This weekend again showed the value, and the passion, that the Mexican market can bring.
Now, of course, the NBA isnt the only league now looking more steadily to the neighbors to the south. The NFL (), even with its recent field issues in Mexico, has targeted the country () as a growth opportunity. Major League Baseball () has the most natural connection through the culture of sport and the Latino community, and soccer, especially with the business relationship that exists with the Mexican National Team and Soccer United Marketing and the growing relationship with MLS () and Liga MX () still the most viewed professional soccer matches in all of the Americas on a weekly basis) are all making inroads into the casual, and affluent fan base of Mexico. Heck even hockey, as pointed out in our recent piece on the L.A. Kings grassroots efforts to the south, is trying to find a niche. But will the NBA, always seeming to be a public step ahead of the others in business development, make the biggest and most successful next step?
There are certainly a lot of reasons to see if thats where the race will lead. The first steps according to NBA commissioner Adam Silver in the growth of professional basketball not just in Mexico but in the rest of Latin America, are coming. Step one could be as early as next winter, when the NBA will put a G League team in Mexico City. Another step would be the building and fitting of more NBA quality facilities for both in cities throughout the rest of Mexico and Latin America. That obviously will take time.
Join us at PORTADA LOS ANGELES on March 15, 2019 at the Loews Beach Hotel Santa Monica, where we will dive deep into sports and soccer marketing's preeminent topics. Felix Palau, VP Marketing, Heineken will discuss "How to measure ROI and transfer best practices between sports marketing platforms". Other speaking engagements include Tiago Pinto, Global Marketing Director, Gatorade who will provide answers to the question: "Will Corporate America jump on the soccer opportunity?"Attendees will also be able to benefit from Portada's meet-up service of three-eight-minute meetings with top brand executives!
"I believe we can be the No. 1 sport in the world," Silver said recently. "When I look at the trajectory of growth, the fact that young people, boys and girls, continue to love this sport, are playing this sport, are engaged in the sport of basketball on social media or with online games, I don't know what the limit is."
One seemingly limitless next step is the continued push by teams to market to a growing fan base. This weekend again showed the value, and the passion, that the Mexican market can bring, and none of that was lost on the clubs like the Orlando Magic () who participated this weekend. The other team that continues to grow in popularity in the country? The Chicago Bulls ().
A study commissioned by the NBA in July found that the Bulls were the favorite team of 18 percent of fans in Mexico, behind only the Los Angeles Lakers (20 percent) and well ahead of the defending champion Golden State Warriors () (10 percent). The Bulls were also a top-three favorite of 42 percent of fans polled, second again to the Lakers () (45 percent).
"To have a team so well-followed and loved like the Bulls in the country, it's a very important step for us," added Raul Zarraga, managing director of NBA Mexico in a conversation with AP last week.
Since the league's formal return to Mexico in 2014 as part of the NBA's Global Games initiative, six regular-season games have been played in the country, including a record four in 2017.
With expansion not that close, but certainly starting to be rumored in cities like Seattle for some time in the next decade, 2025 or so, and with the Olympics coming back to North America in 2026, priming the pump for Mexican growth is not just smart for fan engagement, it could open a whole new geographic region for NBA action, an area which may make more sense than the once fertile vision of franchise growth abroad.
Whether Mexico becomes a home for the NBA is anyones guess. One is more of a sure thing is that the powers that be see the opportunity, both with existing franchises trying to capitalize on engagement with Latino fans, and for the league as a whole looking to identify and grow in new markets with both brands and fans from the grassroots up.
The times of yelling “Olé” and checking the Latino marketing box around basketball are long gone; business expansion has really arrived.
Subscribe to Portada's daily Sports Marketing Updates!
Joe Favorito @joefav
Joe Favorito has over 32 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. The Brooklyn, New York native has managed the day-to- day activities in strategic communications for: Two of the worlds hallmark sports and entertainment brands (the New York Knickerbockers and Philadelphia 76ers), the worlds largest professional sport for women (the WTA Tour), the worlds largest sports National Governing Body (the United States Tennis Association) and the worlds largest annual sporting event (the US Open). He also oversaw the strategic planning, investor relations, communications and digital business development of the International Fight League during its two year run as a Mixed Martial Arts venture and a publicly traded company. Favorito serves on the boards of the Weinstein Carnegie Group, New York Sports Venture Capital, the National Sports Marketing Network, the Drexel University Sports Business program, and Columbia Universitys Sports Management program (where he is an instructor in Strategic Communications and Director of Industry Relations). Joe also maintains a well trafficked blog on the sports marketing and publicity field, “Sports Marketing and PR Roundup,” on the website joefavorito.com, as well authoring the first- ever text on the sports publicity industry (“Sports Publicity” published in August 2007 by Reed Elsevier and updated in 2012 by Taylor Publishing with a third printing coming in 2018), which is used in over 60 sports management programs in the U.S. He has been a guest speaker on sports marketing, social media and communications at a host of institutions, including Princeton University, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, the University of Florida Law School, New York University, the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and many others. He is also a frequent spokesperson on the industry for publications ranging from Ad Age and The New York Times to NPR and CBS News. A graduate of Fordham University, Joe, his wife and two children reside in River Vale, New Jersey.
