By Thomas J. Ryan
Like many other athletic segments, action sports is showing its age. Coming off of huge gains in the 90s-thanks in large measure to its appeal as a fringe, underground culture-action sports has since gone mainstream. In fact, participation in many action sports has flattened or even declined in recent years. But thats not all bad.
Participation trackers expect declines in sports that have been around for a while. The good news is that while participation may be sluggish, many of these sports have stabilized to a sizeable base of participants supported by groups of fanatical enthusiasts.
“One of the things we continually see in many individual sports is that they start growing quickly when they get discovered and then reach a peak,” says Tom Doyle, VP of information and research at National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA). “After that, it either goes out of favor and it nosedives, or it levels off and goes down a little, yet stays at a high level of participation.”
Many action sports appear to be leveling off.
For instance, there were 8.4 million skateboarders in the U.S. in 2007, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) 2008 “Sports Participation and Fitness Study.” Thats well above the mid-90s estimate of nearly 5 million participants, but still down from 10.1 million skateboarders in 2006, and 9.9 million in 2000.
By comparison, the poster child of participation freefall lately has been inline skating. The sport had 10.8 million participants last year, according to SGMA. Thats down about 50 percent from 21.9 million participants at the start of the decade. (Estimates run as high as 27 million participants during the sports peak years in the late 90s.)
Moreover, most action sports appear to have a core group of participants. Of the 10.8 million inline skaters in 2007, only 31 percent (3.4 million) participated in the sport more than 25 times a year, according to analysis by the SGMA. Of the 8.4 million skateboarders last year, 46 percent (3.84 million) participated in the sport more than 25 times a year, and a whopping 28 percent (2.3 million) were defined as “frequent participants,” or those who skateboarded more than 52 times a year.
Participation in many other action sports is leveling off or declining, but not, thankfully, freefalling. Snowboarding has leveled off after seeing a surge in new participants in the 1990s. Surfing participation has been flat for years, but wakeboarding and boardsailing/windsurfing have seen noticeable declines in recent years. BMX has seen a sharp decline in participants, while mountain biking has been fairly flat. Indoor climbing also has lost some of its recent momentum.
Mike May, director of communications at SGMA, points out that growth in all of these sports is somewhat constrained by ease of access (or lack thereof). For example, participation in skateboarding greatly depends on the construction of skate parks; BMX depends on the building of tracks. Many water-based and winter action sports are highly dependent on weather. And some sports only work in certain regions.
“You wont find too much downhill mountain biking being done in the flatlands of Texas or Indiana,” May quips.
But May also believes declining action sports participation numbers reflect the same issues faced by many team sports, since action sports have generally reached mainstream status.
“You need to entice people,” says May. “Its a challenge that every sport has: to get everybody’s attention away from the computer and out into the driveway, the ball field or the skate park.”
Any discussion of action sports eventually leads to a debate about what constitutes an “action sport.” The five core action sports appear to be skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, BMX and motocross. But many other activities often get lumped into the mix. According to May, action sports are typically played by individuals, are youth-oriented and unconventional, and have an element of risk. “It is something that does cater to a different mindset,” says May. “Its an adventurous, and in some cases, a thrill-seeking, mindset.”
According to a recent compilation of “extreme sports” by SGMA, the leading activities are inline skating and skateboarding, followed by mountain biking, snowboarding and paintball.
Mountain biking had 6.89 million participants in 2007, a 2.1 percent gain over 2006, according to SGMA. Frequent participants, defined as those biking more than 24 times a year, totaled 2.8 million. Snowboarding counted 6.84 million participants, ranking as the second-most-popular winter sport, just behind alpine skiing. About one-third of snowboarders (2.3 million) are considered core participants, and they snowboard eight or more times annually.
Participation in paintball, one of the few team sports often linked to action sports, jumped 20.4 percent to 5.48 million in 2007, and has risen 51.5 percent since the start of the decade. In sixth place, cardio boxing had 4.8 million participants in 2007, down 45.1 percent since the start of the decade. In seventh place, indoor climbing generated 4.5 million participants in 2007-a slight decline from 4.73 million in 2006. While highly dependent on the expansion of indoor rock climbing walls and gyms, the activity remains popular on cruise ships, in spas and in many homes.
Trail running, with 4.2 million participants, has seen fairly steady participation rates since 2000. Ultimate Frisbee, with 4 million participants, continues to be a growing sport at colleges.
In 10th place, wakeboarding tallied 3.5 million participants, down 22.8 percent since the start of the decade. Fuel costs, as well as the need for wind and large bodies of water, continue to impact participation rates.
One of the more promising gains came in ice/mountaineering climbing, where participation grew 30 percent to 2.06 million last year. On the other hand, BMX had a 41.3 percent decline, from 3.2 million in 2000 to 1.89 million in 2007 (although the 2007 number is up from 1.7 million participants in 2006). In 2007, 60 percent (1.14 million) of BMX riders were frequent participants, riding 25 times or more times annually.
Marie Case, managing director for Board-Trac, a research and consulting firm serving the action sports industry, believes flat or declining participation in action sports reflects flat to slight declines in the overall youth population. And while “theres always competition for time,” extensive media coverage, marked by the popularity of the X Games, will bolster many sports. The addition of snowboarding (1998) and BMX (2008) to the Olympics has also increased media exposure. Skateboarding could make its Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Games in London.
Local communities have also embraced many core action sports, illustrated by the spread of skate parks. Although kids traditionally stopped skateboarding once they got their driver’s licenses, many now stick with the sport well into their 20s. Action sports are also becoming a bigger part of family activities.
“Youre seeing more dads going with these kids to skate parks, and the same thing with surfing and snowboarding, so theyre becoming family sports,” says Case.
Doyle blames the ever-increasing entertainment choices for kids-including video games and other non-sport offerings-for part of the decline in core action sports. He also believes that kids may move toward newer action sports, leaving behind the more established sports.
Doyle also observes that many action sports undergo a periodic resurgence, becoming the “hot new thing” again as a new generation of kids discovers the sports. For instance, kayaking, partly aided by less-expensive gear, is currently undergoing an “astounding” pick-up among youth.
“Young adults just go on to different things,” says Doyle. “And then others pick up the new thing because their friends are doing it.”
Kelly Davis, director of research at SnowSports Industries America (SIA), likewise believes shifts in participation figures reflect people switching from one sport to another. She observes, “If youre active, youre much more likely to try different sports. If you skateboard, youre much more likely to snowboard. And if you snowboard, youre much more likely to go skiing.”
According to Davis, the biggest opportunity to increase participation is to get those classified as “inactive” participants to embrace the sport. She believes the current crop of video games that enable players to simulate snowboarding or other action sports on a balance board, may provide some impetus to get people to try the real sport.
“If youre willing to get on a balance board and try snowboarding on a video game, you might start to feel that youre like Shaun White and you think, Maybe Ill try snowboarding for real,” says Davis. “So the secret is getting the inactive going.”
