Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a ball through a 10 feet (3 m) huge hoop (the goal) under organized rules. Basketball is one of the most favored and widely viewed sports in the world.

However, other amateur sports clubs, colleges, and professional clubs quickly filled the void. In the years before World Strife I, the Amateur Athletic Union and the Intercollegiate Athletic Basketball Videos Association of the United States (forerunner of the NCAA) vied for authority over the rules for the game. The first pro league, the National Basketball League, was formed in 1898 to protect players from exploitation and to promote a less rough game. This league only lasted 5 years.