Sports Participation Deep Dive: Tom Cove of SFIA on the Latest Trends and What They Mean for Events

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There is nothing quite as valuable to sports organizations and destinations that host their events than data. And one of the leading organizations that has been diving into data analysis for years is the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. The association, whose members include sporting goods and fitness brands, manufacturers, retailers and maerkters, has one of the deepest data pools in the country, annually surveying Americans 6 years old and up about their levels of participation in a list of sports that now tops 120 different activities. Every year, the association issues a Topline Report detailing which of those sports and activities are on the upswing and which are headed down. Toss in a worldwide pandemic that has fundamentally shifted the way everyone participates in the activities they love and you’ve got a data set that is ripe for analysis and contemplation for all who organize sports events at all levels.

Tom Cove has been the association’s longtime president and CEO and his take on why some sports are doing better than others is always worth a listen. In this episode, we discuss with him those activities that are faring well and why, what impact the Olympics is having on sports that are part of the official program, what sports-event organizers should be thinking about when it comes to retaining athletes, and how age and income can determine not only your level of activity but the types of things you might go out and try. It’s a fascinating conversation and one with considerable takeaways for anyone who has their hand in the sports events industry.

Among the topics featured in this episode:

• What goes into the data in SFIA’s Topline Report (4:48)
• What the survey results say about how many people are inactive (7:00)
• The importance of the “core” participant (9:12)
• The impact COVID had on team sports (11:15)
• Which team sport grew over both core and casual use (12:42)
• The No. 1 team sport played in America (13:45)
• What types of sports fared the best during the pandemic (14:42)
• Why pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the country (16:13)
• Are you surprised to see which sports go or down in terms of participation? (18:25)
• Why water-related sports are faring well (20:02)
• Evidence of a bump for Olympic sports in Olympic years (20:41)
• Will lower television ratings have an impact on future participation in Olympic sports (23:07)
• Generational information about sports participation (24:36)
• Why team sports at the youth level are an indication of future sports participation (27:05)
• The impact that income has on sports participation (27:51)
• What kinds of sports that inactive people say they would like to do (29:48)
• What birdwatching is doing on the list of tracked activities (32:34)
• The single factor that determines the likelihood of health risk later in life (33:02)
• Advice for organizations whose sports are trending downward (33:46)
• How the pandemic has altered research trends (36:18)
• Sports participation predictions for the next year (38:35)

This episode is sponsored by: