Why is basketball not a world wide sport like soccer?

I think the answer written by Dhruva Sewar covers the points very clearly.

I would like to elaborate on the same, and to add a few more points-

• Lack of Infrastructure- To make a sport popular world-wide, you need the basic infrastructure everywhere. As Fook Fook points out, the infrastructure required is vast- cost of getting land, cost of maintaining a court, costs for getting the ring set up, and cost of maintenance. Soccer/football does not require a especially made court, and no costs for rings etc.
• Lack of understanding- Got a ball? Start kicking. Get it thorough the goal, stop others from getting it through your goal, no hands, no hitting others. There, the rule book of soccer for beginners. Basketball on the other hand- even basic dribbling takes a lot of effort to learn. Stayed near the basket in the 'D' for more than 3 seconds? Foul. Ran 2 steps with the ball? Foul. Threw the ball before/after 2.5 steps? Foul. Tried to take the ball from someone and touched him/her? Foul. Didn't shoot within 24 seconds of gaining the ball? Foul. Got too many fouls? Wait till a basket. Got still too many fouls? Go out. Made a minor foul? Let the opponent take a free shot. He took more than 10 seconds? Foul. Further rules will apply, these are just the basics. The rules of basketball are much tougher than the rules of football, and I have often seen students confused about what foul they conducted. It leads to lesser incentive to learn the rules, and hence more time to get used to playing.
• Unfair advantages- At the beginner level, height can give unfair advantage to players. This varies highly from country to country (Human height), but they have to be able to play at the same court together in international tournaments. From 1985 to 2006, the average height of players in the NBA was roughly 6'7” (200 cm). So the chances of someone with average height becoming a basketball legend are very slim- you need to be much taller than average to make it in the major leagues. After a point, height stops mattering as much (a 6'3" player can be better than a 6'8"), but if you are 5'9" against a 6'7", you can pretty much forget about it.

Image Credits: Weiterleitungshinweis

Image Credits:  Weiterleitungshinweis

• Lack of Heroes- This directly stems from the last point. You need to be able to relate with people who have made it big in the game, to dream about it. It's much easier to daydream about you being in the position of a person of average build, rather than a hulking giant.
• Lack of media coverage-I read everyday about the happenings in football. The players in basketball are covered much lesser (at least outside the US media), and hence the initiative to become the best also drops substantially.

Image Credits: Weiterleitungshinweis

• More players can play together-Last but not the least, even if you have all the infrastructure, more than 10-12 people on a court leads to a fight for space. In football, the scaling up is rather easier- you just increase the distance to the goal. I have played matches with 40 people playing together, something that is impossible to imagine on a basketball court. This leads to players having to take turns, and results in more incentive to search for something else to play.

The median salaries for basketball are higher in the US, but not all over the world. That, with height advantage, the court advantage, the simplicity of understanding for a casual viewer, and the resulting popularity ensures that football stays more popular than Basketball.

After all, why would you want to play basketball over a game that is easier, more popular, and doesn't give anyone unfair advantage?

BECAUSE BASKETBALL STILL IS THE BEST GAME EVER MADE!