NSGA logo Research Newsletter                          

Compliments of the National Sporting Goods Association

May 24, 2012 - Vol 14, No. 5
In This Issue
Running/Jogging Participation Shows Strong Growth: Team Sports Mixed
Negative Growth of CPI for Sporting Goods Slows Down in April
Bicycle Imports Up Slightly but Unit Value Down
Monthly Report: Sporting Goods Store Sales
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This newsletter is available for free to NSGA members and those interested in NSGA Research. It is transmitted by e-mail the third Thursday of each month.

 

NSGA research is available on our website (www.nsga.org). The guest side of our website provides research for non-members of the Association. Additional information is provided for NSGA members. Remember to have your NSGA membership ID number handy when you login to the member side.

 

NSGA Research Newsletter highlights information from NSGA research as well as from other sources. To purchase any of the NSGA research mentioned in the newsletter, please feel free to contact me for more information. 

 

Dan Kasen

Director of Research & Information

dkasen@nsga.org

Ph: 847.296.6742, Ext. 108 

Running/Jogging Participation Shows Strong Growth: Team Sports Mixed

Running/Jogging, which grew by 10.3% in 2010, continued its strong growth in 2011. Data in NSGA's annual "Sports Participation - Series I and II" reports, now available, shows running/jogging with 38.7 million participants in 2011, an increase of 8.9% compared to 35.5 million in 2010. Since the association began surveying running/jogging in 1984 (29.5 million participants), participation has grown by 30.9%.

 

Among sports and activities with 10 million or more participants, the overall percentage leaders were aerobic exercising and running jogging, both showing an 8.9% increase. Aerobic exercising increased from 38.5 million participants in 2010 to 42.0 million participants in 2011. Tennis (13.1 million) showed a 7.0% increase, followed by yoga (21.6 million), 6.9%; hiking (39.1 million), 3.8%; and backpack/wilderness camping (11.6 million), 3.7%.

 

The overall percentage leader was kayaking, which showed a 26.6% increase to 7.1 million participants. Several other activities with fewer than 10 million participants showed increases in 2011, including cross country skiing (2.3 million), 11.5%; and target shooting-shotgun (9.5 million), 2.0%.

 

Among traditional team sports, wrestling led with a strong increase of 9.4% to 3.2 million. Gymnastics continued to increase, up 7.6% to 5.1 million and soccer was up 3.0% to 13.9 million. Among the team sports showing a decline, ice hockey (3.0 million) was down 9.2%; volleyball (10.1 million) down 5.1%; softball (10.4 million) down 4.2%; tackle football (9.0 million) down 3.0%; basketball (26.1 million) down 2.9%; and baseball (12.3 million) down 1.9%. This contrasts with 2010 increases in basketball (10.1%), baseball (8.9%), ice hockey (7.9%), and tackle football (4.8%).

 

Click here for a chart of overall participation numbers for the sports surveyed. 

 

For this survey, a participant is someone age seven or older who takes part in the sport or activity more than once in a calendar year. "Sports Participation in 2011 -- Series I and II" cover 47 sports, recreation and fitness activities.

 

These reports have been published by NSGA for more than 25 years. They provide data on total 2011 participation, frequency of participation, and mean (average) and median (mid-point) number of participation days. Single-time participation, which is not counted in the total, is included separately.

 

Demographic data on participants includes gender, age, mean and median age by gender, gender by age, household income, and education of male and female head of household. Geographic analysis includes nine census regions and metro area size.

  

For more information and/or pricing for these and other NSGA research reports, please contact the NSGA Research Department, (847) 296-6742, ext. 108, or e-mail: dkasen@nsga.org. 

Negative Growth of CPI for Sporting Goods Slows Down in April

CPI_April

The CPI for Sporting Goods fell 1.1% in April, following larger declines of 3.1% in March, 2.9% in February, and 2.9% in January. The spread between the CPI for All Items index and the index for Sporting Goods decreased to 3.6% in April, compared to an average spread of 7.8% between the two indices in 2011.

 

The CPI for All Items continued positive in April with a 2.5% increase. This followed a 2.6% increase in March and a 2.9% increase in February.

 

For 2011, The CPI for Sporting Goods averaged a 4.7% decrease, following a 3.0% average decrease in 2010. It increased 2.1% in 2009.

 

In the past five years (2011 versus 2006), the average CPI for Sporting Goods has declined 1.2% in the face of a 3.0% rise in the average CPI for All Items.

Bicycle Imports Up Slightly but Unit Value Down

Bicycle imports rose only 2% through February 2012 Year-to-Date compared to February 2011 according to U.S. Department of Commerce data. Total units imported through February were 2,027,404 up 34,575 from February 2011.

 

Imports of kids' bikes were up 29% to 604,645 with a value of $18.3 million, through February.

 

Among adult bikes, imports of mountain and comfort bikes decreased 17% to 545,548 units, with a value of $72.7 million.

 

Imports of 27-inch and 700C bikes were basically flat at 235,713 (valued at $69.5 million) for the second month of 2012, compared to 236,624 units through February last year.

 

Average unit value of an imported bicycle fell 8% for 2012 from $103.00 in 2011 to $95.00 in 2012.

 

In 2011, 15.65 million bicycles were imported into the U.S., with a value of $1.40 billion. Unit imports decreased 21.0% but their value increased 23.6%. 

 

In 2010, 19.77 million bicycles were imported into the U.S., with a value of $1.43 billion. Unit imports increased 33.2% but their value dropped 1.7%.  

Monthly Report: Sporting Goods Store Sales

sporting_goods_store_sales_april

Sporting goods store sales rose 7.9% in March according to the Monthly Retail Trade Survey prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau. The rise in March compares to a 5.2% increase from the same month in 2011, and follows a 9.4% increase in February. For the most recent reporting month (March) sales were $3.7 billion (preliminary).

 

Sales for 2011 were $40.9 billion, up 1.7% for the year. That compares to the 6.6% jump in 2010 when sales were $40.2 billion. Sales for 2009 were $37.7 billion, up 1.6% for the year. Sales for 2008 were $37.1 billion, up 2.3% from the 2007 sales of $36.3 billion.

 

The annual sales estimate for sporting goods stores in the U.S. Census Bureau Monthly Retail Trade survey is consistent with sporting goods sales reported in the NSGA study "The Sporting Goods Market 2012." The U.S. Census Bureau estimates are based on data from the Monthly Retail Trade Survey, Annual Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records. They have been adjusted using results of the most recent economic census. The NSGA study is based on a sampling of 55,000 U.S. households. 
 
For a full description of NSGA research available, go to the NSGA website, www.nsga.org, and click on Research. NSGA research reports are available to purchase on the NSGA website or by contacting Dan Kasen in the NSGA Research Department, (847) 296-6742, Ext. 108; email: dkasen@nsga.org.
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