Anwar Mauricio Elías Ortiz, president of the Dorados de Chihuahua and Dorados Capital team, thinks that the Chihuahua Arena, a work that will cost 200 million pesos to build, traces the route for an NBA G League franchise, the minor league NBA.
“Sport moves all the masses, gives many joys, encourages people to have heroes and keeps them away from danger and vices. Sport in all first world countries is very important and is highly supported ”, he tells Forbes Mexico.
Chihuahua is really where the hotbed of basketball is in the country, says the businessman.
The municipality of Chihuahua, the state government, private initiative, the Tres Presas Metropolitan Park Trust and sports support the construction of the Chihuahua Arena.
“The Arena Chihuahua will be an enclosure, which will be used by the municipality of Chihuahua for its artistic and cultural events and shows organized by the mayor’s office,” explains Anwar Mauricio Elías Ortiz, who sees it as possible for an NBA G team to arrive at that venue. League.
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Currently, Moisés Cosío, filmmaker and owner of a banking and real estate fortune in Mexico, is behind Capitanes de la Ciudad de México, a team that will begin its participation in the NBA G League on November 5, 2021.
Capitanes de Mexico City’s first game in the 2021-22 season will be against Memphis Hustle at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.
The Mexican team, which will be part of the Showcase Cup and will play a total of 12 games in its debut season, will not have a local venue at the moment and all matches will be played as away in the rival team’s arena.
On September 10, 2021, Marco Antonio Bonilla Mendoza, municipal president of Chihuahua, announced in his protest the construction of the Arena Chihuahua as one of the most important works of his mandate.
“Together with the Tres Presas Metropolitan Park Trust and the productive sector, we seek to make a project come true that due to lack of support from the state government of the previous administration could not be concluded, I am referring to the Chihuahua Arena.”
Marco Antonio Bonilla Mendoza, mayor of Chihuahua.
There is a tremendous fans of basketball in small municipalities of Chihuahua, as they fill their enclosures, says Anwar Mauricio Elías Ortiz.
The owners of the Dorados de Chihuahua are Chihuahuan businessmen, who support the sport and have the support of the Chihuahua municipality and the state government, to promote basketball as a sport.
“Boxes will be sold at the Arena Chihuahua for the people and the project will be given greater viability and there the Dorados de Chihuahua will play,” he adds.
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—How much will they invest in the construction of the Arena Chihuahua? Anwar Mauricio Elías Ortiz is questioned.
—We are talking about 200 million pesos, without considering the investment in the purchase of the land.
– Is it a lot of money to detonate the sport blast in Chihuahua?
-Yeah right. The Chihuahua Arena is a viable project because it encourages sports and will host 12 concerts, cultural events, as well as it will be used by the Chihuahua City Council so that its citizens have a venue that they do not have at this time.
Does the Arena rank Chihuahua among the world class cities?
—All the important municipalities of the Mexican Republic have their sand and Chihuahua cannot be left behind, because it is one of the most important municipalities in the country.
– Why invest in basketball in Chihuahua?
—The DNA of Chihuahua is basketball, because if you talk about basketball in Mexico, they talk about Dorados de Chihuahua. Dorados de Chihuahua has a very important history, since it has been the maximum champion in history. Of the 12 players on the Mexican basketball team, which did well in the Pan American Games, at least 8 were from Chihuahua. In the universities, the finals are always played by the selection of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua. If you talk about the NBA and the Mexicans, then there is Eduardo Nájera and Jorge Gutiérrez, who are from Chihuahua.
—The Chihuahua Arena opens the door for an NBA franchise to play in Chihuahua, as Toronto does?
—I think it would be too ambitious a project, but it would be more viable in Mexico City and a group of businessmen in Mexico is trying to do it. They have a team in the category called NBA G League, which is below the NBA.
“Is there a way to bring an NBA franchise to Chihuahua?”
—Of course it does, but first it will be one of the NBA G League, which is below the NBA.
—To bring the NBA G League franchise, Arena Chihuahua is required?
—Yes, correct, to be able to qualify it.
– The T-MEC has as one of its objectives to unite Mexico, the United States and Canada through sports and culture?
-Of course.
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