INDIANAPOLIS -- There has been a world of change in international basketball.

In one week, Borislav Stankovic, FIBA's secretary general, witnessed a U.S. team full of NBA players lose not once but three times in the World Championships, while New Zealand, a relative newcomer, played for a medal.

Stankovic never thought it was possible.

But if this year's 11-day tournament proved one thing, it was this: The American domination is over.

"They went to NBA players and they've owned everything until now,'' Stankovic said of the Americans surprising collapse in Indianapolis. "World basketball is enormous and the gap between the U.S. and the world is getting closer and closer. That's the most positive thing you can conclude from these championships.''

The tournament had its share of successes.

Stankovic and deputy secretary general Patrick Baumann both said the tournament was well-run during a news conference that wrapped up the 11-day competition in Indianapolis.

To the casual fan, there was a very different image -- empty seats and empty promises.

Attendance was far lower than what organizers anticipated and threatens to leave the Indiana Sports Corp. with its first financial loss in its 23-year history, although officials refused to speculate on the amount of the loss.

Then there was the inexplicable performance of the Americans, whose 58-game winning streak with NBA players was snapped by Argentina on Wednesday. The United States was eliminated from medal contention the next night in a loss to Yugoslavia, and lost again Saturday to Spain for a sixth-place finish in the 16-team tournament.

To Stankovic and Baumann, the Americans' plight was indicative of other countries' progress since the Dream Team set the standard at the 1992 Olympics.

"This game has truly become a world game,'' Baumann said.

Because of that, FIBA also is planning changes to its top drawing card.

At the next World Championships, in 2006, FIBA would like to expand the tournament from 16 teams to 24 teams. That would require approval from the Japanese organizers.

If FIBA does not get Japanese approval, Stankovic said the plan still is to change the format by 2010. The World Championships are held every four years.

"After Japan, there will for sure be 24 teams,'' he said. "Most probably, we would have four groups of six and after that go directly to the quarterfinals, semifinals and final. No intermediate games.''

Stankovic also hopes to find a way to keep teams from playing nine games in 11 days, perhaps by lengthening the tournament.

"It's too much,'' Stankovic said. "We need to go, in the future, to no more than two games in a row.''

But the biggest issue throughout the tournament, other than the American losses, has been the lack of fan interest.

The final attendance was 186,014 -- an average of 6,414 people at each session -- was nowhere near what organizers expected for the tournament's first stop in the United States. Sunday's final was the only sellout.

Indiana Sports Corp. president Dale Neuburger cited many reasons for the inability to attract more fans, but suggested that American interest waned because people were unaware of the importance other nations place on the event -- until the U.S. team lost.

"One thing involved here is educating people. We're very provisional in this country,'' World Championships CEO C.M. Newton said. "To the world, this is the 'world' championship. We tried very hard to educate the public about that.''

It didn't work as well as Newton and others had hoped.

Baumann said he did not believe the poor attendance figures would hurt U.S. chances of hosting future World Championships -- especially now that the home-court advantage has vanished.

"I'm afraid I never thought I'd see a FIBA team win against an NBA team,'' Stankovic said. "We had signals that the gap was closing and closing, and now we have the proof.''