PHOENIX – Although his playing days are long over, Mannie Jackson still is hustling with the Harlem Globetrotters.

As the world-traveling comedic basketball troupe embarks on its 79th season, the team owner is working on a deal that would have the Phoenix-based Globetrotters play Olympic gold medal champion Argentina in an exhibition game this summer.

But unlike the usual shows featuring trick shots, skits and the famous weave, there will be no funny business if the team plays Argentina in a pay-per-view broadcast.

A competitive game with Argentina is the Globetrotters’ latest move to expand its business outside the traditional entertainment model, which nearly always includes a win over an inferior team. The current group of fall guys is the New York Nationals. The Globetrotters are making other moves to raise their profile.

“It’s one of the coolest things we have done,” said Jackson, who played for the Globetrotters in the 1960s. “The advantage is we will be on a world stage, which is hard to do with ABC and ESPN constantly running commercials for the NBA.”

Since 1926, the Globetrotters have barnstormed across America, wowing audiences with their unconventional brand of razzle-dazzle basketball and comic antics. Anybody who grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s probably remembers the Globetrotters in their heyday.

During the past few years, the Globetrotters have played major college teams in competitive games. This year they will make their sixth annual appearance at the NCAA Final Four to play the country’s top college seniors.

Jackson also is working on a competitive game against all-star seniors from the Southeastern Conference in April to raise money for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which inducted the Globetrotters in 2002.

There is also an animation project in the works, similar to a popular cartoon that featured the team in the 1970s, which would put the Globetrotters back on TV. The organization said PBS next month will air a documentary on the Globetrotters that will focus on 1948 to 1951, when there were wins over the NBA champion Minneapolis Lakers and a game in Berlin that drew more than 75,000 fans.

The bread and butter, however, still is the traveling shows against the Nationals, and the Globetrotters have seen a spike in attendance this season, Jackson said.

He said that since the season began last month, ticket sales are up 7 percent. The team expects to sell more than 2 million tickets for their North American tour.

“We are doing gangbusters,” said Jackson, who bought the nearly bankrupt franchise in 1993.

Jackson attributed the increase to an improved economy. He said the Globetrotters provide laughs and encouragement to families.

“When you have a world situation like there is now, there is an appreciation of the family and doing something together,” he said.

Jackson said demand has increased so much this season that the Globetrotters will play 36 doubleheaders in various cities throughout the country.

“I love the Globetrotters. They are pure entertainment. Their only mission is to make kids smile. When kids smile, their parents smile and everyone goes home happy,” said Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

Cuban, who has refereed or played in games in Dallas against the Globetrotters, said Jackson has done an amazing job of “continuing to build one of the few global entertainment brands.”