Both U.S.
Lacrosse, the national governing body for men’s and women’s lacrosse, and the
Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) recently released information
regarding the increasing popularity of lacrosse in America.

 

According
to the U.S. Lacrosse 2008 Participation Survey, the sport’s participation level
grew 9.1% in the 2007-2008 season. The survey shows the youth level growing the
most, with a 9.8% growth in 2008 (112.2% growth since 2001), versus a 9.3%
growth at the post-collegiate level, 8.7% growth at the high school level and
5.4% growth at the college level. In 2008, there were 524,230 lacrosse players who
were members of organized teams across the country, from the youth level
through the professional ranks.

 

While the
growth is most notable at the youth level, significant growth has occurred at
every level and in every region. Lacrosse was the top-growing NCAA men’s sport
in 2008, with a growth rate of 28.5% easily beating out the second-most popular
NCAA sport, cross country with a growth of 15.4%. According to the National
Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS,) lacrosse has the highest
growth rate of high school sports among girls at 219 %.

 

Larry
Weindruch, National Sporting Goods Association’s director of communications, reports
that sales of lacrosse sticks grew 2.6% from $30.7 million in 2007 to $31.5
million at the retail level in 2008. Additionally, he said, units were up from
355,000 in 2007 to 366,000 in 2008.

 

Even in
the midst of the recession, lacrosse equipment sales remained steady with the
previous year’s sales, according to retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanINFO, which reported flat sales in lacrosse equipment in 2008 compared to fiscal year
2007.  However, there may be some
plateauing to the growth and retail sales growth may be peaking.  The firm is tracking declines in retail sales
of lacrosse products for the fiscal 2009 year-to-date period.

 

The Sporting
Goods Manufacturer’s Association “2009 Lacrosse Single Sport Report” goes even
further with in-depth analysis of the sport. The report indicates that lacrosse
has grown 117 % with nearly new 80,000 participants per year since 2000.

 

The SGMA report
notes there’s potential for additional growth as two-thirds of all lacrosse
players come from just one-third of the country. The report noted that lacrosse
is hot in large metropolitan markets, with 45% of lacrosse players live in
cities of at least 2 million people. SGMA President & CEO Tom Cove said
that since the concentration of lacrosse participation lies along the eastern seaboard,
expansion in the Midwest and West offers addition opportunities for growth.

 

The U.S.
Lacrosse survey found that those untapped regions are slowly getting on board
at the youth level. Youth participation in Colorado
increased 18.7% in 2008, Washington
state participation jumped 46%. In the Southeast participation has grow over
530 % in Florida since 2001.

 

According
to SGMA’s 2009 State of the Industry Report, lacrosse is the second hottest
sport for sales growth. “That bodes well for manufacturers of product and
local recreation professionals as demand for gear and accessories will be high
plus interest in local programs should be strong,” noted Cove.

 

Not only
is interest in lacrosse strong right now, but its future looks bright, too, as
the rate of participation continues to grow and more and more players start at
an early age. According to SGMA, 65 % of all participants are under age 25. And
75% of all “core” participants (those playing 13 times a year) are under age
25.

 

At this
rate of growth in participation and sales, it won’t be long before lacrosse
will change from an “up and coming, trendy sport” to an established
recreational pastime.