Baseball in Puerto Rico
By the 1949-50 season, several new ballparks were built, each containing 6,000 or more seats. The largest new stadium was Ponce's Estadio Francisco Montaner with 9,718 seats. Montaner has the distinction of being the first stadium in Puerto Rico that installed an artificial surface field. The installation of lights, which allowed for night games, further boosted stadium attendances. The Stadium was named to honor Francisco "Paquito" Montaner, one of the greatest Puerto Rican pitchers of all times.
Streetball in Puerto Rico
By the time that the video game "Street Hoops" was in production, the local scene had gathered sufficient attention to warrant the inclusion of a fictional team known as the "San Juan Coquís" (named after the national mascot, of the same name) as well as a homecourt stage based in a court in Old San Juan. The eleventh city featured in "AND 1 Streetball", as well as the first of the "Global Invasion" international stages, is Parque Damaso Rosa in Luquillo, Puerto Rico. Beginning in 2005, the AND1 brand began working along Puerto Rico national team captain, Carlos Arroyo, who had gained prominence in the Spanish ACB and NBA professional leagues. With the company, the FIBA All-Olympic point guard promoted clothes and shoes, also displaying his streetball skills as part of a video interview for their "Global Invasion" DVD. He reprised his role by performing in the brand's "AND1 Mixtape X: The United Streets of America" production. Arroyo himself was featured in "NBA Street Vol. 2" as the point guard of the Utah Jazz. Carmelo Anthony made appearances in "NBA Street V3", "NBA Street Showdown" and "NBA Street Homecourt" wearing the uniform of the Denver Nuggets. Bobbito García served as announcer and host for this series and the NBA 2K franchise's dunk contest feature.