Seems to me they have a competitive national team and junior team, at least at the Division 3 level. Also seems to me their national team plays a pre-season tour of the Central Hockey League every year. In fact, I'm pretty sure they've won a fair share of those games.
Really, I don't see how this is a bad thing. At the very least if they put teams in the resort cities of Cancun and Mazatlan, there will be enough Canadian and American tourists that might check out a game, that they can be successful. However, I don't think finances is the main reason for this. I think the main reason for creating this league is to further develop Mexican hockey. I'd be willing to guess that within 10 years of this league starting, at least one player will be drafted into the NHL.