I actually am not sure about basket taking over football. The fans will not suddenly change their taste because of all the issues caused by this sport.
In the end, fans are the ones who decide which sport is the number 1, and I see no reason why people will start to support basketball over football.
What I see growing in popularity in the US is soccer, but it still has a long way to go before reaching European levels.
Soccer is the world's sport and I love it, but I don't see it gaining traction in the U.S. for a while still. Every few years, people predict that will happen and it still has not happened yet.
I really don't how it happened that soccer wasn't able to penetrate the US.
It's like you guys have some sort of soccer firewall or something.