The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) has teamed up with The Active Network, Inc., a provider of organization-based cloud computing applications, to understand consumer behavior around U.S. sports participation. In particular, the firms plan to examine why people begin playing, why they continue and why they eventually stop – as well as insights into the roots of brand loyalty.

This is the first time the SGMA is partnering with an industry insider like Active Network to gain insight into the behaviors that shape consumer actions in the sports industry through a nationwide participation study and the Active Lifestyle Panel. The Active Lifestyle Panel is comprised of a representative pool of fitness-minded, influential consumers recruited exclusively from Active.com to provide valuable insight into the behaviors, attitudes and motivations of the active consumer.

“As an organization focused on helping consumers search and register for the activities they love, want and need to do, we are uniquely positioned to provide deep understanding and unprecedented access to these consumers,” said Jon Belmonte, chief media officer at Active Network. “This partnership with the SGMA marries Active Network’s knowledge of active consumers with SGMA’s rich industry expertise and membership base.”

The new, jointly developed report will take the next step beyond the yearly Sports, Fitness and Recreational Activities study currently published by SGMA.

“At SGMA, we aim to provide our members with invaluable access to information, influence and industry connections while fostering sports, fitness and active lifestyle participation. Partnering with Active Network is a natural fit with our corporate mission,” said Neil Schwartz, director of business development for SGMA Research. “The yearly participation study has been the foundation of our research efforts and now we are going to answer some of the questions on why people do what they do. We look forward to providing this insightful data to our members later this year to help them better understand their customers.”

The jointly developed consumer insights report is slated to be distributed later this year and will be accessible from www.activenetwork.com and www.sgma.com.