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SPORTS Saturday 28 april 2018

U.S. leagues

Continued from Page 17 Commissioner Adam Silver
said. “It’s part of a 130 mil-
In other words, better get lion-person country. There’s
used to calling his team the a very strong, passionate
London Jaguars. Mexican-American fan
“Shad Khan’s purchase base in the United States.
of Wembley Stadium por- This is also a potential gate-
tends that a substantive way for all of Latin Ameri-
NFL presence in London, ca.”
and ultimately a franchise, The NHL first floated the
is inevitable,” said Vince prospect of a European
Benigni, a professor of division in the late 1960s.
sports communication at Detroit Red Wings owner
the College of Charleston. Bruce Norris was so fix-
The NBA, which last ex- ated on the idea that he
panded in 2004, is looking launched his own team,
to get the jump on Mexico the London Lions, who
City, a sprawling metropo- played a 72-game sched-
lis of more than 20 million ule against top European
people that opened an teams in 1973-74.
NBA-ready arena in 2012. Unfortunately, the Lions In this Oct. 22, 2017, file photo, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin (11) catches the
That facility hosted a pair of never had a league of their ball as he warms-up for an NFL football game against Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium
NBA regular-season games own, so the team quietly in London.
each of the last two sea- disbanded after that single Associated Press
sons , drawing an average season, leaving behind it would simply be too dif- a league that has faced the Los Angeles Dodgers
of more than 20,000 fans. nothing more than a cool ficult to incorporate such declining TV ratings and will meet the San Diego Pa-
“You can feel it, you can logo . faraway cities as London lots of bad publicity about dres in a three-game series
smell it, you can breathe it Over the last two decades, and Tokyo into an 82-game the devastating physical at Monterrey .
in the streets.” said Gilber- the NHL has scheduled schedule, which requires toll on its players. MLB seems the most logi-
to Hernández, president regular-season contests in teams to play games all There are no major pro cal candidate to launch
of the Mexican Basketball Europe and Japan, includ- through the week and football leagues in Europe. a Mexican team, given
Federation. “They’re just ing two games in Stock- sometimes on back-to- Teams play only once a baseball’s popularity and
craving basketball.” holm this past November. back days. week, generally on Sun- the large number of Latin
Of course, there are a The Asian market also re- Also working against Eu- day, and the entire regu- American players in the
number of challenges that mains a top priority, es- ropean expansion: the lar-season schedule is just majors, but the NBA is lead-
must be addressed before pecially heading into the lack on U.S.-quality arenas 16 games. ing the way.
international expansion 2022 Olympics in Beijing (even the most modern A team in London would Silver wants to put a G
becomes a reality — es- — though the league sent facilities generally lack the have to make the cross- League development
pecially so for Mexico City, mixed signals by refusing size and amenities to gen- Atlantic trek no more than team in Mexico City, test-
which is 7,350 feet above to send its players to this erate as much revenue eight times a year, and the ing the waters for a possible
sea level (more than 2,000 year’s Winter Games in as their American coun- demands could be less- NBA franchise.
feet higher than Denver), South Korea. terparts) and established ened by scheduling back- “As we look down the road,
is plagued by crime and For the NHL and the NBA, basketball and hockey to-back road games, halv- frankly, to see whether
economic-disparity issues, the enormous travel times leagues in many countries ing the number of long- there can be an opportu-
and might have trouble between North America would surely object to the range roundtrips. nity to even dream about
signing top players who are and either Europe or Asia NBA or NHL coming in to A London team could even an NBA franchise here in
reluctant to step outside remain the biggest ob- steal their limelight. maintain its base of opera- Mexico City, we believe it
their cultural comfort zone. stacle to adding teams in For the NFL, the challenges tions in the U.S., essentially makes sense as a first step
But the appeal is enormous. those markets. Unless some aren’t nearly so daunting, playing all its games on the to have a development
“It’s the largest city in the sort of supersonic transpor- and the potential rewards road but perhaps making it league team here to work
Western Hemisphere,” NBA tation becomes available, could be even greater for easier to sign players in free out some of the issues, to
agency and cope with le- better understand what
gal issues and currency it would mean to have a
fluctuations. team in Mexico,” Silver said.
Travel would not be a con- There are still plenty of
cern for a Mexican team. questions to answer, that’s
The NBA, NFL and Major for sure.
League Baseball have But one is crystal clear.
all played regular-season Are U.S. leagues going in-
/arubatoday/ games south of the border ternational?
— next weekend, in fact, No doubt about it.q