Custom Basketball Uniforms

Participation Numbers Are In! - Top Trends In Balls And Equipment

Basketball is by far America's favorite team sport and rivals soccer in international popularity.

Strong and steady - on the courts and in the stores. That's one way to summarize the status of the basketball business - according to SGMA International. Manufacturers' sales of basketballs and equipment rose about 1% in 2004 to an estimated $380 million.

Basketball is by far America's favorite team sport and rivals soccer in international popularity. In 2003, eight million players in the U.S. said basketball was their favorite sport, far more than cite any other team sport. Although it is not apparent in the SGMA.s Topline Sports Participation Report results, many young girls have taken up the sport in high school or organized leagues. In addition, about eight million players were aged 35 or older, many of them fathers playing at home with daughters and sons.

Although there have been substantial improvements in the quality of basketballs through the use of composite materials, manufacturers are hard pressed to raise their prices in the face of deep discounting by mass merchants. These same merchants have traditionally offered home backboard systems at deep discounts, while sporting goods stores concentrate on systems of superior quality and offer delivery and installation.

Basketball manufacturers have developed ways to imprint color and design on balls, introducing a fashion aspect in the hope of increasing sales. For instance, Spalding recently took the idea a step further by offering balls that depict the name, number and jersey design of several NBA stars. They hope that consumers will buy the balls, priced at $30, as gift items that youngsters and other fans will put on display. Meanwhile, participants will continue to buy regular balls for play.

The institutional market for backboard systems is growing in the low single digits. The market is largely composed of schools and municipal recreation facilities and is highly dependent on new construction. Basketball participation in high school and organized community leagues has increased steadily over the past decade.

Fast Facts on Basketball in the U.S.:

How many participants? 35.4 million players
Age Analysis: 48% of all players are age 6-17; 40% of all players are age 24-44.
Gender Breakdown: 71% of all basketball players are male.
Did you know? There are more girls playing AAU youth basketball than boys.

According to the SGMA, during the 1990s, participation in basketball soared. "Hoops" became America's most popular team sport as participation rates in volleyball and softball, its nearest competitors, steadily declined.

However, since 1997 basketball participation has been slipping. The 39.4 million players reported in 1999 by American Sports Data are essentially the same number as in 1990. Still, basketball ranks as one of America's most popular sports of any kind, some 9.6 million players calling it their favorite.

Severe price pressure and technological advances have changed how basketballs are being purchased. Competition has forced the retail price of the least expensive rubber balls to as little as $5, and synthetic or composite balls are replacing leather balls that once cost twice as much. Many high schools, on tight budgets, are choosing the composite balls, which effectively replicate the "tacky" feel of broken-in leather.

The institutional market for basketball equipment is being fueled by increased school construction and renovation. A combination of demographic pressures (in the form of more students), the generally healthy condition of state and municipal budgets, and the aging of the existing school system are spurring this construction activity. A "baby boom echo" is moving through the school system, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, and will raise the number of high school students from 14.9 million in 1999 to 16.0 million in 2009.

A strong influx of female players has buoyed basketball, especially at the high school level, where play on varsity teams by girls increased 18% during the 1990s. Basketball is the most popular high school sport among girls and the second most popular (after football) among boys.

The Amateur Athletic Union reports that more girls (105,000) than boys (98,000) signed up for its competitions in 1999. At the beginning of the decade, the numbers were 29,000 and 49,000, respectively.

When basketball participation soared in the early 1990s, much of the credit went to the marketing acumen of the National Basketball Association. It follows, then, that the recent decline in participation has been associated by some with the disappointments surrounding the season-shortened lockout in 1998, the retirement of Michael Jordan and the breakup of the nationally popular Chicago Bulls. Research by ESPN Sports Poll found that the percentage of Americans who were interested in the NBA dropped to 50.5% in 1999 from 57.1% in 1995.

One of basketball's strengths among team sports is its relatively large number of adult players - more than 10 million between the ages of 25 and 44 in 1999. These older participants are predominately male, and for the most part are probably fathers playing on home courts with their sons and daughters. The ease with which basketball can be played in a family setting is an indicator that its popularity is likely to continue over the long term.

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