According to Sports Business Journal’s analysis of the 2022 industry report Sports & Fitness Industry Association and Sports Marketing Research in the US.
The annual survey has been conducted annually since 2008 and consists of a national sample of 18,000 respondents from proprietary online panels representing the US population ages 6 and older.
A total of 27.1 million people age 6+ played basketball at least once in 2021, 11.5 million more than baseball, the nation’s second most popular major sport. Eight million claim to be baseball players who play at least 13 times a year.
To extend its lead, basketball added 480,000 first-time players between 2016 and 2021 (a 3% increase), joining rugby (+29,000 or 1%) and flag football (+28,000 or 1%) as the only major league-related team sports. to show the growth in the number of its most active players during this period.
Pandemic-related restrictions naturally had a negative impact on participation percentages in indoor and team sports.
While this analysis focuses on team sports, the most popular individual sports were nine- or 18-hole golf and tennis, with 25.1 million and 22.6 million participants, respectively. Each sport’s governing body reported that more than three million of those players did it for the first time. For tennis, it was the highest rate ever for the sport, while golf hasn’t crossed the 25 million mark since 2012.
With the easing of COVID restrictions in 2022, fastpitch softball saw its largest year-over-year increase in overall participation (up 15.8%) as more than two million players hit the diamond. Gymnastics (up 10.9% to 4.3 million) and court volleyball (up 8.1% to 5.8 million) and team swimming (up 8% to 2.9 million) also enjoyed a boost.
SFIA President and CEO Tom Cove, who has been with the organization for 33 years, said team participation is growing. “We’re pretty bullish on the near future of team sports,” Cove said. “Because the kids see it now, when you lose something, you realize that maybe you took it for granted and you appreciate it more when you get it back. The data says there’s going to be a pretty big bounce in team sports in the next couple of years. All leagues to their own.” “Growing the Game” initiatives really stepped up. It took a while, but the positive momentum is there for all leagues. (See our interview with Cove at the end of this story.)
Other notable highlights from the data:
■ One million 6-12 year olds competed in flag football at least 13 times in 2021, the highest increase of 29% in the survey since 2016. In fact, 57% of its most frequent players were between the ages of 6 and 17.
■ Rugby saw similar growth among children, with 160,000 people playing the sport at least eight times in 2021, a 56% increase compared to 2016.
■ Seven of the 16 team sports saw an increase in the number of frequent female competitors: basketball (increase of 483,000 or 13%); athletics, (+90,000 or 12%); lacrosse (+43,000 or 14%); ice hockey (+40,000 or 21%); beach volleyball (+32,000 or 5%), indoor volleyball (+32,000 or 1%); and rugby (+13,000 or 19%).
■ All five major sports experienced double-digit declines in the number of Asian-Americans participating in the sport between 2016 and 2021.
Baseball
Baseball attendance has topped 15.5 million over the past five years. Read also : Ben Lucas Appointed General Manager for LEARFIELD’s Rams Sports Properties. Since a 14-year low of 13 million in 2012, sports participation has increased by more than 20%.
■ From 2014 to 2019, core participation (13 or more times) had increased by approximately 300,000 to more than 9 million, but is still well below the 11 million frequent participants who played in 2008. 8.2 million claimed to be a major leaguer in 2021 , a 7.2% year-over-year increase — the biggest jump of any major league player — adding 550,000 players in the process.
■ The 18-24 year old population has grown among major league baseball players since 2016, as that demographic grew 30% to 620,000. In addition, 1.2 million Spaniards gambled at least 13 times last year, which is 3% more than in 2016.
■ In 2021, 45% of baseball participants were between the ages of 6 and 12, the highest rate among major sports.
MLB’s Division of Baseball and Softball Development was created in 2015 after Rob Manfred became commissioner in January of that year. Tony Reagins leads the department as Director of Baseball Development. The department has 25 full-time employees and a number of part-time employees.
“I think Commissioner Manfred has made it a priority from day one to focus on young people playing baseball and softball,” Reagins said. “I think he’s been true to his emphasis on growing the sport with young people in everything he’s presented.”
Casual participation (2-12 times a year) increased from 6.7 million to 8.1 million in 2019-2020 (21.5% growth).
Reagins cited the success of the Little League Classic and youth baseball expo “A Dream Fulfilled,” which included the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program (launched in 1989), on the “Field of Dreams” film site.
One example is the Dream Series, a showcase event focusing on Martin Luther King Jr. to the dynamics of a diverse group of elite high school athletes — mostly black athletes — over the holiday weekend. Created in 2017, the event is hosted by MLB and USA Baseball.
Blacks made four of the first five picks for the first time in MLB draft history: No. 2 Druw Jones (Arizona); No. 3 Kumar Rocker (Texas); No. 4 Termarr Johnson (Pittsburgh); and No. 5 Elijah Green (Washington). All four players are also alumni of the Dream Series program. Additionally, six of the first 18 picks were black (33.0%), with all coming from MLB developmental programs.
“In 2015, we felt it was very important to encourage young people to play our sport, baseball and softball, in informal ways to be involved in sports,” Reagins said. “And we started the Play Ball initiative, where we go into communities that are less fortunate and that I wouldn’t say have forgotten about baseball, but haven’t really been involved with baseball before.”
Additionally, in 2021, MLB began a specific partnership with black churches across the country through Drive Thru Play Ball events, where kids received equipment to play at home, in their neighborhoods, and in any other non-traditional baseball environment.
Reagins also cited a more unified effort with Minor League Baseball and its 120 affiliates since its reorganization last year.
“We had 10 MiLB teams put their hands up to start an RBI league in their community,” he said. “So we hope the other 110 will join and allow us to expand this program.”
Soccer
■ Overall, 12.6 million Americans played football in 2021, up 1.2 million players (10%) from the 14-year low in 2018. To see also : What are “whales” in video games. Participation has increased for three years in a row.
■ The number of core participants (those who play 26 or more times a year) has remained at around 5 million since 2018 (excluding 2020, which had 900,000 participants), down 23% from 2010.
■ Since 2016, the sport has added 38,000 primary players aged 13-17 (a 19% increase to 242,000). In terms of percentage increase, only rugby (+53%) made a bigger jump.
■ 43% of first-team players are women (38% in 2016), the most among the major leagues.
■ 18-34 year olds now make up 18.6% of all primary players, up 3 percentage points from 2016.
■ Hispanics make up 1/5 of the first-team players, up from 17% in 2016.
Since 2007, each MLS team has had its own youth academy designed to develop homegrown players. Many academy graduates have gone on to play professionally either in MLS or elsewhere. In 2020, MLS launched a youth league in the US and Canada called MLS Next, which now includes more than 600 teams and 13,000 players across six age groups (under-13 to under-19). The organization also plans to offer more opportunities to more players to expand the pool of talent exposed to its player path. Free and low-cost programs are being rolled out across the country to reduce barriers for new players.
While participation is still below the nearly 14 million who played between 2008 and 2011, the increase over the past three years is an encouraging sign.
Hockey
■ 2.3 Americans said they were gamers in 2021, a 23% jump since the sport’s low point in 2008, down 14% from a peak of 2. To see also : Shrinking pay-TV universe, finances can’t stop sports rights from climbing.7 million in 2016.
■ In 2021, there were 1.1 million core participants (13+ times per year), which is the same number as in 2008-2011. in 2016, but 18% less than 1.3 million in 2016-2019. in the year.
■ Looking at the demographic information as a pie chart, 84% of all first basemen were white in 2021, up from 73% in 2016. Only 177,000 primary players were white in 2021, a decrease of 184,000. Additionally, women made up 21% of the 1.1 million core players last year, up from 14.6% in 2016.
■ In the 2016-2021 period, the growth in core participation came mainly from women (up to 234,000 players, or +21%) and ages 13-17 (up to 242,000, or +19%).
The NHL has several initiatives aimed at promoting participation in both organized ice hockey and more informal forms of the game such as street hockey. The league’s “Learn to Play” program has provided more than 140,000 children ages 5 to 9 with free gear and six to eight weeks of on-ice instruction for a nominal fee. Rob Knesaurek, NHL vice president of industry growth, said 50% of program participants go on to play hockey, which he believes is a great way to engage NHL clubs in creating a memorable experience for kids. He added that the league is also focused on increasing the number of girls and children of color in the program.
Football
■ In total, nearly 7 million Americans competed in flag football in the previous two surveys, a 26% increase from the 2015 survey. Between 2016 and 2021, this increase was mainly due to a 24% increase in the number of players aged 6-13 (to 1.6 million); Black players (up 92,000 or +21%); and Hispanics (up 61,000 or +16%). Additionally, 35% (973,000) of the sport’s players are black or Hispanic, the highest among such sports.
■ 5.2 million played tackle football in 2021, down 33% from the 14-year high in 2008. Last year’s 2.6 million core attendees (26+ times a year) was a 39% drop in 14 years.
■ The decline was driven by a decline of 800,000 (-23%) core participants between 2016 and 2021, including 429,000 (-17%) players aged 6-17.
■ Despite declines in participation across every age, gender and ethnic group, black players make up 24% of the 2.6 million core players, up from 21% in 2016.
The NFL has pushed all teams to adopt a youth strategy, and the league has also sought to work directly with current and retired players working in youth or instructional football environments, said Roman Oben, NFL vice president of football development and club member. SFIA Board.
One message Oben believes is that football today has changed from when many seniors played — the game is more about athleticism and finesse than it was a generation ago, and should be taught as such.
“I think we’ve been consistent in teaching proper technique, language and drill selection and letting our legends know it’s not the same game it was when I played in 1995,” Oben said. “It’s much more athletic, much more passing and strategic, the defense doesn’t just go down for the collision, it has to defend horizontally and vertically.”
Oben believes the NFL’s work in sending health and safety messages has broken through, and there is now less talk of banning football altogether.
Flag football has shown signs of strength both as a way to engage girls and women footballers as well as mainstream players. “We’re looking at a world that excludes those who participate in entertainment, and flag football is the opposite. We welcome all comers,” he said.
The NFL is excited about signs of growth among Latinos, Oben said. According to the SFIA, Latino soccer participation increased by 440,000 last year (up 16% from 2016). “If you look at that southbound [Interstate] 10 line — from Jacksonville to Los Angeles — there’s definitely an uptick and an increase in Latino participation.”
Basketball
■ The number of core participants has grown for four consecutive years and has grown by 8% over that period. Between 2016 and 2021, this increase came mainly from women (+483,000 or 13%); players aged 25-34 (+354,000 or 18%); blacks (+346,000 or 12%); and Hispanics (+261,000 or 14%).
■ 4.2 million, or 26% of all primary players, are between the ages of 6 and 12.
In 2020, Jr. launched NBA Virtual Programming and Youth Development Online Event Series. During the 2019-2020 season alone, they garnered over 210 million views from youth players and fans in 118 countries. Jr., a new national network of youth basketball leagues for boys and girls ages 6-14, will begin in November. NBA Leagues. The initiative aims to address issues of access and equity that have intensified during the pandemic.
“We know that these impacts are not felt equally, they are not felt equally across socioeconomic lines, racial lines, gender lines,” said David Krichavsky, the NBA’s director of youth development. “And so we felt we had to do more. That’s really where the initiative comes from.”
Staff members Erik Bacharach, Ben Fischer, Eric Prisbell, and Alex Silverman contributed to the reporting of this package.
The quality of the experience is key to sports participation for both kids and parents
Sports participation rebounded strongly in 2022, but lessons learned from the pandemic show that the key to continued growth is ensuring parents and children have great experiences, said Tom Cove, CEO of Sports and Fitness; Fitness Industry Association. Cove: “We’re at a point of transition, but it’s very strong, starting with awareness of the benefits and the desire to be physically active. The opportunity now is how you deliver the experience.
Cove also spoke with SBJ’s David Broughton about the strong comeback of sports travel and how sports organizations are still trying to figure out the “new normal.”
