By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
I stumbled upon two items of information regarding tennis participation in the United States that bears some thought for those in the tennis industry.
For starters, I saw a press announcement from the Tennis Industry Association that states that overall tennis participation rose 1% from 2013 to 2014 to 17.9 million players, according to the Physical Activity Council (PAC) 2015 Participation Study, the largest single-source independent sports participation project in the United States. The study also revealed that “Core” tennis players, defined as those who play tennis 10 or more times a year, dipped 1% to 9.91 million in 2014.
The second item of information I re-discovered came from the book “The Bud Collins History of Tennis,” which we are planning on publishing an updated version via New Chapter Press starting December 1, 2015 (Pre order here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1937559386/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_qKMTvb0BXRNYN) In the chapter reviewing the 1974 season, Collins references the “tennis boom” of the 1970s, writing “The respected A.C. Nielsen Company made its first survey of tennis in 1970, estimating that 10.3 million Americans played occasionally and projecting that the number would increase to 15 million by 1980. A second survey in 1973 indicated that the growth rate was much faster, and fixed the number of players at 20.2 million. A third study, released in September 1974, indicated a staggering 68 percent increase to 33.9 million Americans who said they played tennis “from time to time,” and a more significant estimate that 23.4 million played at least three times a month.”
Comparing these statistics is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, since they were conducted by different companies with different criteria. However, what one can deduce is that at best the sport of tennis has dipped by about 12 percent since the mid-1970s, which is considered the “hey-day” time for the sport in the United States. If you compare the study from September of 1974 stating that 33.9 million Americans played tennis “from time to time” against the 17.9 million number revealed in the Tennis Industry Association press release and one can deduce that approximately half of the number of people played tennis in 1974 than they do today. Consider also the fact that there were 213 million Americans in 1974 against 320 million today.
Food for thought for those in the tennis industry as they seek to further promote and develop the sport in the United States.
