Last week the SGMA released their top-line participation report (SEW_0416) which showed some considerable gains in fitness activities, relatively flat participation in many team sports, and gave an upbeat outlook for the world of outdoor recreation. This week the NSGA released some very different findings.
While the rankings of many of the activities were shuffled around a bit the NSGA study showed declines in nearly every category. Equipment exercising (+3.9% or 1.9 million new people), tackle football (+10.9% or 1 million new people), mountain biking (+5.6% or 0.5 million new people), and paintball (+6.8% or 0.5 million new people) were among the few activities that showed increased participation.
Out of the top 44 activities covered in the study, 31 showed declines, and 13 showed double digit declines. By contrast, out of the 114 activities covered by the SGMA, 79 showed increases in participation, with 18 showing double-digit gains.
According to the SGMA, they distributed 25,000 questionnaires and received 15,015 returned, usable responses. The NSGA told SEW that their sample size was 20,000 U.S. households, 10,000 each for the series I and II surveys.
>>> Both organizations provide statistically accurate information and sizable samplings. Perhaps we can pool the info and develop an INDUSTRY report we can all get behind
