The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) has released its 2024 U.S. Trends in Team Sports Report, which examines participation and market trends from 2023 in team sports and features in-depth data analysis of age group participation and specific takeaways. The report breaks down data for 24 different team sports by youth and young adult team sports participation and includes information on coaches, training, and trends to watch for in 2024.
SFIA data for the team sports category shows that there were roughly 8 million more team sports participants in 2023 than in 2022, an 11% increase. This participation number is the highest number of team sports participants since 2014 and is the third-straight year of positive gains. From 2022 to 2023, 20 of 24 team sports that SFIA tracks increased its participation figures, with only four sports not seeing increases.
CORE team sports participation and overall play occasions are both still down from pre-pandemic levels, however, we are seeing signs of recovery and positive developments in the data. CORE team sports participation is still significantly down from 2019 levels, but the majority of team sports (14 of 24) increased their CORE participation figures from 2022 to 2023, and we expect that number to grow in 2024. While play occasions were also down for 18 of 24 sports since 2019, 18 of 24 sports did see one-year increases in play occasions, meaning this number appears to be on its way to recovery.
“The 2024 U.S. Trends in Team Sports Report highlights a remarkable resurgence in team sports participation, with an 11% increase from 2022 to 2023, marking the highest number of participants since 2014. This growth underscores the resilience and enduring appeal of team sports in our communities,” states Alex Kerman, Senior Director, Research & Business Operations, SFIA. “While we celebrate these gains, the industry needs to continue to focus on converting casual players to CORE players so we can strive towards a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels.”
In 2023, sport per participant continued its downward trend. On average, people aged 6+ played 1.73 sports, the lowest figure in the last decade and the first time this number has gone below 1.80. Alternatively, the sport per participant number for people in the 6-12 and 13-17 age groups individually did go up slightly from 2022 to 2023. While youth sports participation (ages 6-17) remained flat from 2022 to 2023, team sports participation did in fact experience growth for those 18+.