NBA Mexico City Game 2025 fuels talk of a franchise

The NBA will return to Mexico City on Saturday, Nov. 1, when the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons meet at Arena CDMX in the NBA Mexico City Game 2025. The regular-season matchup, scheduled for a 10 p.m. Eastern tipoff, will coincide with Día de los Muertos celebrations and continue the league’s long-running efforts to deepen its presence in Mexico, which has hosted more NBA games than any country outside the United States and Canada.

The game is the league’s 34th contest staged in Mexico overall and the 15th regular-season outing in the country. It will be broadcast in English on Peacock and in Spanish on Telemundo and NBC Universo. The event is also part of the NBA’s broader plan to expand its international footprint, with Commissioner Adam Silver saying earlier this year that expansion would be a central topic at the Board of Governors meeting and naming Mexico City and Canada as leading options. “This is the summer we’re going to look at it seriously,” Silver said. “Over time, maybe there’s more we can do in Canada and Mexico City.”

Beyond the matchup, the game is serving as a showcase for the argument that Mexico City could sustain a permanent franchise. Miami Heat...