<P> The three - point line was first tested at the collegiate level in a 1945 NCAA game between Columbia and Fordham but it was not kept as a rule . At the direction of Abe Saperstein , the American Basketball League became the first basketball league to institute the rule in 1961 . Its three - point line was a radius of 25 feet ( 7.62 m ) from the baskets , except along the sides . The Eastern Professional Basketball League followed in its 1963 -- 64 season . </P>
when did they start 3 pointers in basketball
1945