What factors have contributed to the success of basketball as a sport?

Answer 1

* Inner city kids growing up in poorer neighborhoods (same reason that Brazil soccer is excellent). It's easier for these kids to put up a basket and toss around the ball rather than more team oriented sports that require many participants and much more room to play their sports (i.e. Baseball and Football)
* For many kids this is their ticket out of the ghetto and they will play Basketball through most of the night
* Television dollars continue to act as a catalyst for the sport
* Global adoption of the sport also contributes to the continued growth
* Longevity of these excellent athletes is greater than most sports (assuming they make it to the professional level)
* For audiences they get to watch incredible athletes in action for a much more concentrated period of time. In other words the games are action packed and only take a fraction of the time to play.