Basketball dribbles - popularity of playing basketball

American Demographics, Oct, 1997 by Matthew Klein

With 45.6 million players in the U.S. in 1996, basketball is riding high. But participation has slipped marginally in recent years. Between 1995 and 1996, participation slipped 2 percent; the one-year decline between 1994 and 1995 was 4 percent, according to the American Basketball Council. The average number of days participants played has also dropped a little, from 43 days annually in 1994 to 42 in 1996.

Basketball may have hit its peak in overall growth in participation, according to the council. Yet its popularity among teens may generate some growth in the next decade, thanks to the large baby-boomlet generation. In 1996, 7.5 million boys and 5.2 million girls aged 12 to 17 shot hoops. This translates into 64 percent of boys and 47 percent of girls in this age group.

Basketball is also reaching more women--14.1 million played in 1996, up 6 percent from the 13.3 million that played in 1995. As the Women's National Basketball Association gains prominence, that number may grow even more.

Reaching a plateau after the rapid growth of the late 1980s and early 1990s is not necessarily bad news for basketball. The sport has claimed 9.9 million new adherents since 1987, more than any sport or activity except in-line skating, and it is the third most-popular sports activity, after bowling and fresh-water fishing, according to American Sports Data, Inc.

"Based on one year's data, I'm not willing to say the sport has plateaued," says &egg Hartley, executive director of the American Basketball Council in North Palm Beach, Florida. "But suppose for the sake of the question the number's come back similarly next year. We have still gotten a tremendous level of participation over the last ten years."

For more information, call the American Basketball Council at (561) 840-1161.