Originally billed as the Central American Sports Games (Spanish: Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos), the idea for a multi-sport regional event in Central America was formalized by the Central American Congress, an association of regional Olympic committees, on July 4, 1924 in a document stating the goals and rules of the future event.

In its Article 1, the document states that the Games would be open to "Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, the Central American republics and [those] of the Caribbean," that the event would launch in 1926, and that it would be held under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee.

On October 16, 1925, a meeting of sports delegates presided by Moisés Sáenz took place in Mexico City, where they agreed to hold the event's first edition in Mexico's capital the following year, with the opening date set for October 12, set to coincide with the 434th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America on his first expedition of 1492.

All the athletes were men, although the regulations had allowed for women to enter volleyball, swimming, and tennis events.

The games featured 271 male athletes from three countries (Mexico, Cuba and Guatemala), competing in eight sports and 39 events.