But the 2019 drop was much less than 2016-18 (23,311, 20,540 and 30,829). Ultimate Fighting Championship was founded in 1993, but it really took off in the mid-2000s and has an avid and deep fan base. Now: Mired in a slump. Now: Soccer is relevant in the United States, which isn't something you could always say. Sports and Fitness Industry Associations (SFIA). Modern-day NFL is the most powerful entity in the history of American sports. Now the growth is stymied at older ages. To determine the teams losing the most fans, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 10-year percentage changes in average attendance at regular season home games in the NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL. The X Games were founded in 1995, and with many Xtreme sports being added to the Olympics in recent years, the future looks bright. Yoga has grown 12.8% in that same time frame, making it one of the fastest-growing activities during the pandemic. Now: Time has eroded boxing to the point it's barely relevant (when Floyd Mayweather fights, people pay attention, but that's about it), while MMA is America's fastest growing sport, although its fan base is decidedly male, which is a limiting factor. Hockey has a strong base of hardcore fans, but to take the next step, the sport needs to attract the middle-ground fans, which will be difficult to do. While the league's composition looked the same (there's only been four expansion teams added in the past 25 years), the game has become more explosive. Among those fans, 77% are said to be male, while the rest are female. Half-marathon runners perform their best when they are between 35 and 39 years old, according to an October 2017 Research in Sports Medicine study, which analyzed runners between 2010 and 2016 in the world's largest half-marathon in Sweden. Over the five years to 2022, the Tank and Armored Vehicle Manufacturing industry has benefited from rising geopolitical tensions after taking a direct hit from plummeting demand prior to the period. Inside the country, tennis pulls around 700k fans on average. Pickleball is also fast becoming a spectator sport. Ice Hockey is relatively steady in the United States, falling in the 5th spot on our list of 12 most popular sports. Every World Cup, you hear about how soccer is going to explode in the U.S. That's not happening, but consistent growth will occur. Xtreme sports: Here's a sport that will continue to grow. If young people can't play golf because of economics, they're a lot less prone to watch it on television. Learn More, The Lighting and Bulb Manufacturing industry has endured revenue volatility while experiencing threats on demand fronts. Ibanez is also on pace for a career-high ground-ball rate and is hitting fewer line drives. MMA has become one of the most fastest growing sports in America, with more and more youngster taking up the sport from an early age. Learn More, The Semiconductor Machinery Manufacturing industry sells the equipment necessary to manipulate silicon on an atomic level and produce computer chips. Some teams, like the Philadelphia Phillies, usually have a packed stadium, but recent struggles seem to have impacted attendance. Take a look at Garnetts performances in Games 3 and 4 of the Heat series, because they were the difference in the Celtics season. Even though volleyball is less advertised than other games on the list, it is popular among the residents of the States. Best guess? Following oscillating consumer sentiment, projected outcomes for the tiny semiconductor machinery manufacturing industry reversed multiple times in a year. While COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic stay-at-home mandates led to an increase in demand for home entertainment, industry revenue was still negatively affected due to contamination concerns, social-distancing measures and Hollywood slowing down, which limited the number of new titles that industry operators could provide. It's been a steady decline since then. Tennis has an estimated number of fans of around 1 billion worldwide. Tennis has dropped off a little, but it is in the middle of a golden era of talent with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. The second is girls participation in the top 10 most popular sports as measured by NFHS over the like period. Domestic ore output decline 21.1% in 2020 alone as operators idled mines and processing facilities due to coronavirus concerns and lower demand for iron and steel. Trending: Up (for MMA) and down (for boxing). College athletics is as profitable as it's ever been, but it's also on the cusp of major change that threatens the existence and viability of college football and basketball. It will make some strides over the next couple of decades it's already huge on the East Coast but it's unlikely to become a top-10 sport in America. In the 2022-23 season, it was recorded that, on average, 16.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the game. The 2019 rate still leaves room for improvement 18% of youth engaged in no sport activity at all during the entire year. It seems as though its television coverage is increaing. (Or so I hope all included take it, as they resolve not to find me/beat me up.). Almost 1.1 million people watch volleyball on average and over 37 million people play the game in the USA. Read "Why the time is now to coach mental health in youth sports" here. The game now has two national professional tournaments, both formed in the last four years, and pickleball organizers are courting corporate sponsors to help grow the sport in the U.S. and abroad as part of a bid for Olympic inclusion. Besides, in the womens category, Beiwen Zhang is one of the most accomplished players, with a record of 290 wins and 170 losses. Perhaps the most apt comparison for Randy Moss is a guy I chose not to qualify for this list because he hasnt played professional ball in a year: Both as talented as anyone ever to play their respective sports, but both so confident/defiant that they refused to add much nuance to their games over the years because, really, they never needed it. Given the extreme finances required to run a team, it seems likely NASCAR will continue its downward trend. He was unquestionably one of the best five players in the league. Want to see more fastest declining industries? Kobe doesnt have the body to perform as Jordan did at 36 (hes substantially skinnier), and to me, his decline is most evident in the quality of shots hes able to get against elite opponents. Invented in 1965 by three middle-aged fathers in Washington state, pickleball is a quirky cross among tennis, pingpong and badminton, played with a paddle and a perforated plastic ball. 2 spot. Meanwhile, the IndyCar series was stocked with stars and plenty popular in the U.S. Golf participation is falling almost as fast. The answer is simple; the game supports and reflects many aspects of American life, from culture to economics and technological advances. Literally the exact opposite of Moss from a work ethic perspective, but so outlandish in his self-presentation that any drop in what was for years the finest WR play that money could buy would instantly equate to his value being outweighed by his requisite distractions. While Im not a doctor, in the past few years his body has seemed to me as though it's in phase one of the breaking down period. To decline is human, but to have been good enough initially to garner notice on a list such as this one? Updated Jan. 31 . Herewith, it also gained the most significant financial revenues. hide caption. Yes, Michael Jordan was in the league, but he hadn't won a title. "It's addictive so we just started playing and now with our other friends and relatives actually everybody we know now plays pickleball," said Freida Yueh, who joined the Meredith program with her husband two years ago after they retired in the area. 2011-09-26T17:20:35Z . In the past five years the declining sports have lost a total of 9.3 million participants. Their increasing fragility has kept them off the court for large chunks of the past few seasons, and while their numbers arent awful, theyre being put up on one of the worst and most dysfunctional teams in the league, which historically indicates theyre skewered. When you talk about it and make it a priority, it helps, she said. ABOUT SFIA:The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. The average viewer of the 2014 World Series was 54.4 years old (it was 49.9 in 2009). USA Pickleball sanctioned a second pro tour that started a year later, launched by the Association of Pickleball Professionals. But with so many new players, the U.S. is struggling to keep up with demand for courts. Traditional broadcasters' interest in the sport is growing. Woods lifted golf to new ground in the 2000s when he was must-watch TV. 1. The data is from the. Lin Dan is regarded as one of the best badminton players, with two Olympics, five world champions, and six All England championships. However, the industry has recently come under pressure as aggregate steel production and consumption fell sharply in response to the poor economic environment which stemmed from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in 2020. NASCAR Yellow Flag Lineup (Source: Public Domain Pictures.com). Yes, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were off the scene, but Nick Faldo, Payne Stewart and Greg Norman still gave people something to be interested in. Males played sports more regularly than females by 6.4 percentage points at ages 6-12 and by 8.7 percentage points at ages 13-17. As of this writing, Jon Rahm stands at the top of the official world golf rankings, per CBS. Municipalities nationwide are trying to meet the demand for pickleball venue so many that USA Pickleball is putting together a toolkit for community planners with guidelines and cost estimates for building courts, which can range from $300 for a temporary net, equipment and tape to mark lines, to $30,000 for a permanent court. Now we have to also bring awareness to legislative policymakers. Those squads are the hardest teams to root for. Now: The NHL has been up and down thanks to seemingly endless labor strife, but it's hit a high note of late. I suspect Gilberts propensity for planking has something to do with rigor mortis. While Smith is as much of a bulldog as anyone in the NFL, its tough for a guy at 5'9" to make up for a loss of athleticism. For the rapidly decreasing number of Americans who've never heard of pickleball, the obscure paddleball game is one of America's fastest-growing sports. In 1989, the NHL only had three teams that weren't located in Canada or within a 2-hour drive of Canada. Track and field, and cross. Soccer is on the way up. Some have seen average attendance declines of more than a third over the last decade. Not all teams have attendance slumps for the same reason. 25 years ago: Believe it or not, tennis was more popular in the U.S. than hockey, golf or auto racing and just a cut below the NBA. The average percentage of capacity filled during home games in a season for the NHL, NBA, and NFL also came from ESPN and is as of the most recently completed regular season. Now: Time has eroded boxing to the point it's barely relevant (when Floyd Mayweather fights, people pay attention, but that's about it), while MMA is America's fastest growing sport, although. Professional. (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images), NFHS doesnt measure demographic. Also, its safe to say that this game has been drastically growing in the professional arena. I think theres a little bit of restored trust in the quality of attention to risk minimization, coach education and parent education, Niehoff said. Badminton is most popular in China, followed by Indonesia. Back then, tennis was more than just the major tournaments. Now: IndyCar racing has become irrelevant after the Indy Racing League split from CART in 1996. The card last sold for $1,100 in November, losing over 90% of its value in less than 12 months ($8,000). Did you see Duncans face as the Spurs got taken out by the Grizzlies? To determine the sports teams running out of fans, 24/7 Wall St. used sports attendance data from ESPN to find the pro sports franchises that had an attendance decline of at least 10% from the 2008 season to the 2018 season. Both events boast hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize payouts that are minting the first generation of pickleball players who can make a living at the game. Perhaps even more indicative of the player were currently looking at, he kind of did in Philadelphia too. Boxing could get some life if a charismatic heavyweight hits the scene, but its best days are behind. Team sports saw a year-over-year increase of 1.8%, but participation still remains lower than pre-pandemic levels with approximately 2 million fewer people participating in team sports in 2021 than in 2019.