MIAMI (WSVN) – It’s a sport where once the ball is thrown, it can travel at speeds of upwards of 150 miles per hour.
The sport that was huge in Miami at one time is back on a fast track to regain popularity with a new generation of fans.
The last hope to save the sport of Jai-Alai is happening at Miami’s Magic City Casino.
“This is it, you know?” said Scott Savin, Magic City Casino COO. “If this fails, there will be no professional Jai-Alai in the United States so it’s sort of an all hands on deck.”
Savin is hoping to make it work at the last facility in all of North America to play professional Jai-Alai.
Former Canes and NFL player Tanard Davis turned to the sport to earn a living, despite not knowing if it will survive.
“We control the destiny of where Jai-Alai goes,” said Davis. “If you ask anybody: Would you want to be the last survivor on a sport where it has so much tradition? Yes.”
The sport started in the U.S. in the 1920s.
It gained immense popularity in Florida and several other states during the 70s and 80s after gambling on the game became legal.
The interest in the sport has died off, so what’s the plan?
“We’re going to keep playing the game, we have an incredibly dedicated roster of players, we have a small niche following that seems to be building every day and we’re going national, we’re going international,” said Savin.
With the ability to bet online and new streaming services coming into the fold, Jai-Alai may be able to survive.
“We’re out to 105 million homes right now which is up from less than a million last year,” said Savin. “LaLigaSportsTV in Spain, 1.9 million. subscribers showing all our games. We put a video up on TikTok, in the first six weeks it had 10 million hits.”
Younger players are getting more involved in playing professionally.
Chris Bueno is a second generation Jai-Alai player.
“I think we’re adapting very well in the fact that now we have outlets that are putting us into these smart TVs and into other apps that they can show us ’cause now we have eyes on us that weren’t watching us before,” said Bueno.
There aren’t many fans who come to watch the games at Magic City, but the ones who do have a message for those who might be curious.
“If people could be here and enjoy the sport and watch it, everyone you bring to watch it goes, ‘Oh wow, this is really cool,’” said Jai-Alai fan Bryan Dahn.
“The core sport is amazing, the fastest ball sport in the world,” said Savin. “Our goal is to get it in front of literally millions more people than have seen it over the last 20 years.”
Aside from Magic City Casino, Jai-Alai is only being played professionally in frontons of Mexico, France and Spain.
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