San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves' NBA game was postponed on Wednesday night due to smoke which crept inside the Mexico City stadium.
The arena was evacuated 45 minutes before the match was scheduled to start when a generator malfunction outside the arena sent smoke pouring into the building.
Mexico City Police said in a statement there was a fire in the generator room on the fourth floor of the modern glass-clad arena that opened in 2012.
"What happened was provoked by a short circuit in the room of generators," the statement said.
While the teams were warming up, lights went out in parts of the arena and smoke began emerged from vents in the upper deck.
Spurs-Timberwolves match postponed
"I thought they were practicing fireworks, Spurs TV analyst Sean Elliot said. "A lot of teams do that before introductions. But then the smoke just kept creeping and it wasn't white smoke. It was like a brown dark smoke and it started taking over the whole court. It was surprising."
Fans had not yet been allowed into the arena for the NBA's first regular-season game in the country since Houston and Dallas played in Mexico City on Dec. 6, 1997, when the evacuation was ordered. The teams went to their buses, still wearing their practice gear.