INSIGHTS NOW

Who is Driving Changes in Team and Individual Sports Participation?

By Nick Rigitano

NSGA Director of Insights and Analysis

The latest edition of NSGA’s Sports Participation in the US report revealed much-needed increases in 2019 for both the Team and Individual sports segments, which are key areas for many sporting goods retailers, dealers, and manufacturers.

Based on NSGA’s Total Participation Points (TPP) measure, the Team sports segment increased 1.6% in 2019 compared to the prior year while the Individual sports segment increased 1.2% during the same time frame. TPPs offer a more complete view of participation because both the number of people participating in each sport segment (reach) and the number of sports each person is participating in (depth) are taken into account.

tracked by NSGA experienced increases (as illustrated in Figure 1). Furthermore, five of the eight sports experiencing increases (basketball, cheerleading, flag football, lacrosse, and softball) were driven by increases in female participation.

The increases in baseball and soccer were driven by males and volleyball experienced the highest percentage change in overall participation compared to the prior year (+5.3%) driven equally by males and females. Team sports experiencing decreases in participation, however, included tackle football and touch football, which was driven mostly by males, while the slight decrease in ice hockey was driven by females.

Figure 2 illustrates a similar story among the Individual sports segment. Five of the segment’s seven sports experienced increases in participation, three of which were driven by females (bowling, golf, and swimming). An increase in male participation in tennis (+2.5%) canceled out a decrease in female participation (-2.1%), resulting in a slight increase overall (+0.4%).

Pickleball experienced the strongest gains of the segment (+3.5%) with increases in both male and female participation. On the other hand, a decrease in female participation led to the decline for gymnastics, while males accounted for the slight drop in ice/ figure skating.

While it is important to note that one year does not make a trend, the 2019 increases were a welcome sight for both segments, which had

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each experienced declines in 2018. Furthermore, the increases suggest that participation amongst the Team and Individual segments was headed in the right direction prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 and offer a glimmer of hope that interest levels in playing sports might be able to tread water until America can fully reopen once again.

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