Basketball Set to Become ‘World’s Game’

Yao Ming?

There is no doubt of soccer’s supremacy in worldwide popularity, but basketball is not far behind these days.  Have a look at NBA rosters to see the influx of foreign-born players. Small nations such as Cape Verde, Mali, and Singapore all have national teams. The game is being played on all inhabited parts of the globe.

A global study, conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide in April ‘97 based on 35,000 interviews, showed that 11% of the world plays basketball (Today, Over 450 million people play basketball). Basketball has even replaced football as the most popular sport in areas like Asia and Australia and is on the way to surpassing football worldwide.

-Fiba.com

This past month the NBA created NBA China to coordinate their expanding operation in the world’s most populous country. Over 300 million people play basketball there, and Yao Ming is a national hero. Basketball is also looking to expand in India, the world’s second largest country, as newly formed leagues and NBA camps have grown in popularity. Basketball’s birth nation, the United States, has watched the game spread to unexpected places.

The Beijing Olympic Basketball Stadium

Team USA, who finished a disappointing third in the 2004 Athens Olympics, is fighting to reclaim their billing as the world’s best. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul look headline a superstar roster less than a month from now in Beijing. An excellent look inside their journey and into the world game of basketball will be showcased in a documentary entitled “Road to Redemption” airing this month and next on ESPN2. Starting tomorrow (July 14-20), the FIBA Qualifying tournament kicks off in Athens. Then starting August 8th, the Olympic Games in Beijing will mark a high point for world basketball, as the top teams face off on the highest stage. This summer one of the world’s greatest sports takes center stage… and you can bet millions will be watching.