The Top-level domain (TLD) “.basketball” is a sponsored top-level domain intended for use by the sport of basketball and its community. A top-level domain is essentially the last part of a domain name – that is, the letters that come immediately after the final dot in an internet address. For example, in “www.google.com,” “.com” is the TLD.
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is responsible for the management and coordination of the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the internet can find all valid addresses, incorporated the “.basketball” TLD as part of its New gTLD Program. A gTLD, or Generic Top-Level Domain, refers to the top-level domain name of an Internet address that identifies it generically as associated with some domain class, such as .com (commercial), .org (organization), .gov (government), etc.
According to ICANN, the application for the “.basketball” TLD was submitted by Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) in association with their partner Roar Domains LLC in 2012. In spite of the competition from other applicants such as Donuts (one of the biggest players in the new gTLD world), FIBA’s community priority evaluation was successful, so they were awarded the rights to the “.basketball” TLD.
According to domainincite.com, the “.basketball” top-level domain was launched in November 2017, immediately after FIBA’s application prevailed. As per ICANN’s guidelines, the “.basketball” TLD must work in the best interests of the global basketball community. That is, it must provide a digital space for the basketball community that is secure, stable, and capable of delivering services that meet the unique needs of the community.
Examples of domains using the “.basketball” TLD include www.usa.basketball, the US governing body for basketball and www.fiba.basketball, the website of the International Basketball Federation.
In conclusion, the “.basketball” TLD was designed to create an easily recognizable, alternate, and official digital space for the global basketball community. It is used by basketball governing bodies, teams, athletes, coaches, clubs, supportive businesses, and communities for their websites, email addresses, and other digital identities.
Sources:
1. ICANN (https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/)
2. FIBA (https://www.fiba.basketball/)
3. Domain Incite (http://domainincite.com/22303-basketball-launches-autumn-usain-bolt-photo-finish)
4. USA Basketball (https://www.usa.basketball/)
