In the ten segments the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) tracked to compile the 2023 Edition of its U.S. Sports Participation Report, consumers took advantage of the opportunity to participate in a wide range of sports and activities in 2022.

The NSGA noted that the report is the industry’s longest-standing and most comprehensive participation study. Data analysis showed that seven segments increased in participation in 2022, two remained relatively flat and one decreased compared to 2021.

Sport/Activity Segments showing growth, according to NSGA’s Total Participation Points (TPP) measure, included:

  • Indoor (+8.4 percent) driven by increases in billiards/pool, dart throwing and table tennis;
  • Individual (+7.2 percent) with pickleball participation nearly doubled (+79 percent) while bowling and swimming increased for the second straight year;
  • Outdoor (+6.3 percent) experienced strong gains led by hiking and camping (vacation/overnight);
  • Wheel (+4.2 percent) with bicycle riding, in-line roller skating and mountain biking (off-road) drove the increase;
  • Open Water (+3.9 percent) had moderate gains in all six activities tracked;
  • Personal Contact (+1.5 percent); and
  • Team (+1.2 percent) had mixed results but up slightly as increases in volleyball, basketball and flag football offset slight decreases in lacrosse, ice hockey and soccer.

The two relatively flat segments were Fitness (-0.7 percent) and Snow (-0.7 percent). The only segment with a slight decline was Shooting (-1.3 percent).

Click here to see which sports are in each segment, and click here for an explanation of the Total Participation Points (TPPs) calculation.

“It was great to see so many segments experience participation increases in 2022,” said Nick Rigitano, NSGA director of insights and analysis. “This ultimately helps lead to more opportunities for retailers, team dealers and manufacturers to sell products related to those activities.

“We saw a good recovery of some segments in 2021 coming out of COVID-19. It was also encouraging to see team sports show some growth in 2022 after a significant decline in 2020 and a slight drop in 2021.”

Youth participation points (ages 7 to 17) in the Team segment increased 4 percent compared to the prior year. Solid gains in basketball, cheerleading, ice hockey and volleyball drove the increase. Softball was the only sport that declined sharply among youth for this segment, while baseball and touch football remained relatively flat versus the previous year. The increases were welcome for a segment that had experienced declines in youth participation in most sports since the COVID pandemic year of 2020.

In the Individual segment, youth participation points experienced an increase of 14 percent compared to 2021, driven by gains across the board in bowling, golf, gymnastics, swimming, and tennis, led by pickleball (+37 percent). Ice/figure skating was the only sport/activity in the Individual segment to experience a slight decline (-1.5 percent).

For the Snow segment, an increase in cross-country skiing offset slight decreases in alpine skiing and snowboarding to keep the segment relatively flat compared to the previous year. The Fitness segment also remained flat as increased working out at club, gym and fitnesss studio helped offset a decrease in exercise walking.

The Shooting segment showed slight declines compared to the previous year, as a slight increase in hunting with firearms could not offset slight declines for the rest of the activities tracked in this segment.

The report is available here and tracks 56 sports and recreational activities on a ten-year participation trend (when available) and demographic details regarding age, income and U.S. region. NSGA’s participation research also includes Cross Participation, Lifecycle Demographics and Single-Sport reports.