Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to with a POD of your choice, to make basketball a major sport (on the level of rugby union) in the UK by 2010. Extra kudos for post-1967 (formation of the ABA, with the three point line) POD.
That is a factor, something that would kill off netball in British schools would help. However, it appears basketball is on the up at the moment, the national team are doing very well but the media for some reason aren't caring.
Wasn't basketball making a big push back in the 90s?
I remember going to a few games of the basketball team in Newcastle, they'd been around idly for a while but I'm pretty sure they'd just stepped up their game and got some decent players along with the rest of the league.
I think basketball has the best chance of all American sports in the UK. Its indoor, it doesn't require the big special outdoor facilities of the others. And our weather sucks.
I suppose the problem with it is it isn't too egalitarian- too much focus on people built a certain way.
You'd have more chance of making Ice Hockey the 4th sport in the UK.
At least there, you have long established teams, (Streatham Redskins, Bracknell Bees or the Fife Flyers for example), plus newly formed teams like the Sheffield Steelers, Manchester Storm, Peterborough Pirates etc in the major cities and in Scotland, and at one point you had good media coverage.
Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to with a POD of your choice, to make basketball a major sport (on the level of rugby union) in the UK by 2010. Extra kudos for post-1967 (formation of the ABA, with the three point line) POD.
Rugby league is a special case as - to slightly oversimplify - everywhere in a line from Manchester to Hull is a crazy fan, apart from there no-one cares. Although I agree that rugby union is probably a bit too high. Let's say ... snooker (assuming it's a sport)?