Not only the economy and emigration unite Mexico and the United States

American football has more and more followers in Mexico

The National Football League, in charge of American football, began to organize matches of its league in Mexican territory and it did not surprise at all the passion and knowledge of the fans about this . According to the league, more than 20 million fans are estimated in Mexican territory, which makes Mexico a second home for this sport.

Leer en español: México cada vez más gringo en el deporte

The attendance in the matches held at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico has not dropped by 76 thousand people, which makes it an appealing territory due to the box office collection, but also due to the sales of merchandising and sports equipment.

The only drawback is that in the Estadio Azteca many soccer games are played weekly, which would make it inevitable that another scenario be sought or another stadium be built that adopts an NFL team.

In addition, the NFL has not yet allowed franchises outside the United States. Not even Canada is home to a team of American Football and they have to settle for a league of a lower level.

The MLB wants to take hold in Monterrey

In the case of the MLB, the road is more paid, after the first major league game was played in Mexican territory since 1999, with a great reception from the city of Monterrey.

League commissioner Rob Manfred said he wanted to expand the league from 30 to 32 teams and that Monterrey was a serious candidate to adopt a team permanently. Although players like Fernando Valenzuela and Adrián González have come out from Mexican territory, they also have one of the strongest baseball leagues in the Caribbean and a great crowd that runs out of tickets and fills the stadiums in question of hours.

The newly remodeled Monterrey stadium has a capacity of just 22,000 fans, being a very small stadium to house a major league team, where the smallest stadium is 31 thousand seats.

There is already a baseball team in Canada, the Blue Jays of Toronto, which demonstrates the possibility of creating a team on the southern border.

Will the best basketball in the world take Mexico?

On the other hand, Mexico is a flourishing market with an increase in the interest and practice of basketball, which has led the representatives of the NBA to think seriously about this market.

Like the MLB and the NFL, the NBA seeks to expand internationally to find new sources of income and as in the other two super leagues, the closeness between the two countries plays an important role. It is less expensive to move equipment to Mexican territory than to another country, which would expand the profits of the teams and the league.

For now, the NBA attacks the youth market through the creation of a development and training academy in Mexico City and the Jr. NBA World Championship Mexico camp.

It is true that Mexico is breaking its football ties with South America, but is strengthening alliances in other sports with the United States.

Latin American Post | Daniela Escalante
Translated from “ México es cada vez más gringo en el deporte”