"San Juan arena expects sellout for NBA game, has hopes of land an all-star game." 8(23) by Daniel Benjamin

The NBA expected a capacity (18,000 people) crowd for their October 14 preseason game in San Juan, Puerto Rico between the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzlies. Arena officials who produced the game hope this preseason game is a prelude to Puerto Rico getting a regular season game and an all-star game. However, Puerto Rico will not get an opportunity to host an all-star game until 2008 (the 2006 game was awarded to Houston and the 2007 to Las Vegas).

I have a few thoughts on this idea,first, from a business standpoint since the NBA's strategy is to expand their brand internationally I believe having a preseason game in Puerto Rico is a superb idea. The reason I like this idea is because the previous time (2003)the NBA played a preseason game in Puerto Rico, Roberto Clemente Colliseum (9,000 capacity) sold out. In addition, Puerto Rico is a basketball fanatic country. I also like the idea of having an all-star game in Puerto Rico because what better way for the NBA to showcase their product on an international scene then during a weekend where all the "star" players will (most likely) be there. Besides I'm sure the players would love to be in warm weather in the middle of February.

I don't however, like the idea of having a regular season game being played outside the U.S. The main reason is that a regular season game means something (while the preseason and the all-star game are exhibition evnets/games) and since each team only gets 41 home games losing a date at home could theoretically cost a team a playoff spot. In addition, I believe the logistics of scheduling the event and travel for the teams would be difficult since sometimes NBA teams play on back-to-back nights (generally 3 or 4 games a week). The situation with the Montreal Expos (when they played in Puerto Rico in 2003 and 2004) was different because they knew they were going to play three to eight straight games there.