There is a sense of irony with the Professional Golf Association’s relocation of the World Golf Championship from the Donald Trump owned golf course in South Florida to Mexico City. As you may remember, the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee started off his Presidential campaign with a pledge to build a wall to keep Mexicans and others from illegally entering the United States along the southern border. However, the PGA officially blames the inability to find a title sponsor for the event for the reason behind the move, and not Trump’s political campaign promises.
The PGA has secured a Mexico City sponsor. Mexico is looked at as a growth area for United States sports organizations. Mexico City could be in the running for a Major League Baseball team should the baseball owners look to expand after the owners and players agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. Baseball has been played in Mexico for well more than a century and Major League Baseball has staged regular season games in Monterrey which might also be viewed as a potential expansion franchise city.
There is also a proposal for a bid for the 2026 soccer World Cup between the United States and Mexico. The National Football League has been marketing the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals brand into Mexico for a long time and on November 21, the Oakland Raiders and Texans will play a regular season game in Mexico City. The National Basketball Association schedules regular season games in Mexico and the National Hockey League might explore the feasibility of playing a pre-season game in Mexico City in the future.
Sports is no longer local, it is global. Whether the United States sports leagues are exporting a product to another country or Mexico sends the country’s national soccer team or local clubs to play in America, sports knock down walls for money.
By Evan Weiner for The Politics of Sports Business.
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, Evan Weiner.