The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) is the trade association for sporting goods and fitness brands, manufacturers, retailers, governing bodies and sports leagues in the industry.
Sports Destination Management: The SFIA just produced its annual Topline Report, which tracks trends throughout the industry. What did you see as some of the key takeaways?
Bonnie McLaughlin: Overall, participation is sports, including team sports, is up. That’s all good news.
SDM: It sounds like there is a “but” coming.
McLaughlin: There is; we are definitely hearing about some of the barriers for kids who want to be involved in team sports. More than 40 percent of parents say that cost is a barrier, including the cost of equipment. Tariffs are playing into it too; it’s all creating waves of uncertainty.
SDM: A lot of elite programs or travel programs can be priced out of reach for parents, which is a shame, since kids really want to play.
McLaughlin: I would say overall, the problems facing youth sports can be boiled down to two things: access and affordability.
SDM: There have also been a lot of conversations around kids specializing in one sport.
McLaughlin: We have a campaign called 2034WARD to help create healthier kids who are more enthusiastic about a variety of sports. We’re offering free multi-sport clinics around the country.
We are hopeful that by offering three very different sports, we can offer participating kids a sense of what they like. Something we’ve seen is that parents are hesitant to commit to signing a kid up for a sports team for a full season and buying them their equipment and uniform, for example, if they aren’t sure they’re going to stick with that sport. In our clinics, we’ll be teaching the rules of each sport and letting them play little games, and we’ll be sending them home with equipment. It removes the barriers.
SDM: What else do you see as some of the problems?
McLaughlin: It’s perception. A lot of times, if a kid is a certain age, say 12 years old, and they go to a major sporting event and they see an athlete on the field or on the court, they think that person must have been doing that sport since they were four or five — and that because they’re 12, it is too late for them to try that sport. And that is very, very wrong. They can join sports at any point.
SDM: Are more kids active now than they were?
McLaughlin: Yes, but if you look at kids between the ages of six and 17, you see that 4.9 million were inactive. As they get older, that number goes up. We want to change that because there are so many wonderful health benefits to pulling kids away from screens and getting them involved in sports.
SDM: We have the World Cup this summer and the Olympics in 2028, as well as plenty of other events, including the Rugby World Cup. Kids will be able to see a lot of different sports over the next few years.
McLaughlin: They will and if they watch with their families, it’s an even better experience. They may wind up pursuing a career in sports — not so much as an athlete but in some other way connected to sports, like working on the sidelines, writing or talking about what is happening on the field or being in the business another way. There is a whole ecosystem out there. SDM
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