Jazz Set To Play Against Orlando In Mexico City

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – For the first time in Utah Jazz franchise history, the team is set to play a regular season outside of the United States and Canada.

For their next game, scheduled for Saturday against the Orlando Magic, the Jazz will be tipping off from the Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City.

“The Utah Jazz are excited to play in Mexico City and are proud to represent our fans and the NBA on a global stage,” Utah Jazz president Steve Starks said to Aaron Falk of utahjazz.com. “This will be our fourth time playing in Mexico and first time back in 15 years. Our organization thanks the NBA and the people of Mexico City for this unique opportunity.”

The Jazz played an exhibition game in Mexico City in 2003, where they defeated the Dallas Mavericks 90-85 in a preseason contest. More recently they played in London and Spain in 2009.

The Magic have already been in Mexico City for a few days. They defeated the Chicago Bulls 97-91 in front of more than 20,000 fans on Thursday.

While the Jazz don’t have a player from Mexico on the roster, they do have players from Spain (Ricky Rubio, France (Rudy Gobert), Brazil (Raul Neto), Switzerland (Thabo Sefolosha), Australia (Joe Ingles and Dante Exum) and Canada (Naz Mitrou-Long).

Jazz International History

November 2, 1990  in Tokyo, Japan:  Phoenix 119, Utah 96

November 3, 1990 in Tokyo, Japan: Utah 102, Phoenix 101

October 26, 1996 in Mexico City, Mexico: Dallas 107, Utah 102

October 27, 1996 in Mexico City, Mexico: Utah 111, Phoenix 105

October 5, 2003 in Mexico City, Mexico: Utah 90, Dallas 85

October 6, 2009 in London, England: Chicago 102, Utah 101

October 8, 2009 in Madrid, Spain: Utah 109, Real Madrid 87

Broadcast Info

The game against the Magic will tip off Saturday at 3 p.m. and be televised on NBA TV.

Information from utahjazz.com and NBA.com was used in this story.