“Because really what we’re talking about is people,” said Ambrosie. “And it’s something we’re already good at, recruiting great athletes.”

So the CFL has come to this sprawling metropolitan area of 21 million residents to begin that global talent search.

Fifty-one Mexican players have been invited to run, jump, lift and be interviewed by CFL scouts at a Sunday combine in 33,000-seat Estadio Azul. As many as 36 players will be drafted by the nine Canadian teams on Monday.

Some are seniors at Mexican universities, some hail from the eight-team Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional (LFA), and others graduated years ago from university and haven’t played serious football in ages.

Wide receiver Humberto Noriega, for instance, could be the prize of the combine, according to a couple of observers. He’s a big, physical specimen who led the nation in receiving yards for a couple of years. But Noriega is a lawyer who hasn’t played anywhere lately and nobody knows good how he’ll look on Sunday.

But appearances at this combine might well be deceiving.

“I think they will find good quality players with good football skills. Probably they will not have good times for the 40 yard (dash) or the broad jump, but on the field they can play,” said Fox Sports football commentator Carlos Rosado.

Because the LFA pays its players a relative pittance — 10,000 pesos, or just C$690 per month, during the four-month spring season — most players work full-time, practise sparingly and play a game per week.

What’s more, half of the eight LFA teams are located in the Mexico City area, so many university grads in other locales, even those with plenty of football acumen, take a pass on the LFA and concentrate on careers that pay better and allow them to stay closer to home. The aim of the combine was to get the best players from all those groups onto the field.

“We’ve got very good talent here in Mexico. I think it’s commensurate with what you would have at the college level in Canada,” said Eric Fisher, a Kansas City native who has coached high school and university ball in Mexico for 15 years.

“We graduated quite a few fantastic players over the last few years. But I haven’t seen them for a couple years and don’t know what kind of shape they’re going to be in.

“They’ve been working, so they’re coming out from behind a desk. They would have still been active, and they’re young so they’re cross-fitting and maybe playing some tochito (flag football).”

Fisher was a member of the six-man committee that selected players for the combine. He believes they should have capped invitations at 30 or 40 to wow CFL scouts with a core of undeniable Mexican talent.

But the CFL is open to the idea of a two-tier draft — players who might make rosters immediately, and others who are longer-term projects. And the LFA clearly wanted to fling open the doors to as many players as possible, inviting 12 receivers, 10 defensive linemen, seven defensive backs, six linebackers, five offensive linemen, four kickers, three running backs, three quarterbacks and one fullback to the combine.