By Brandon Zhu
On this day in 2002, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame formally opened the doors to a brand new facility, introducing the 80,000 square-foot, $103 million dollar building. The Hall of Fame is in Springfield, Massachusetts, the same city where the game of basketball was invented in 1891 by Springfield college instructor and graduate student James Naismith. Today, basketball has become the 5th most popular sport in the world and the Federation of International Basketball Associations estimated that a minimum of 450 million people play the sport around the world. The growing legacy of the NBA has seen more than 400 inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Nearly 200,000 people visit The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame annually. The Hall is currently in a new phase of redesign, incorporating new advances in technology to enhance the fan experience. The continued promotion and preservation of the game will further grow the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a place to celebrate one of the most beloved and quickest growing sports worldwide.