T he numbers are in and the results are decidedly mixed for sports participation in America. The good news is that participation in sports reached a new high in 2025, according to a recently released 2026 Topline Participation Report from Sports & Fitness Association (SFIA). However, the same report found that the overall participation growth of 1.2 percent year-over-year was a slight moderation from the 1.7 percent average annual growth rate since 2020.

Meanwhile, increases in participation in most sports is one of the encouraging highlights from the 2026 edition of the National Sporting Goods Association’s (NSGA) Sports Participation in the U.S. report.

SFIA: Glass Mostly Full?

Let’s start with the SFIA report, which found that, for the first time since it began tracking sports participation data, 250 million Americans participated at least once in sports, fitness or leisure activities in 2025. That’s a lot of balls, shoes and uniforms being sold. Even better, “core” participation – those who participate in the majority of play for each sport or activity – reached 158.8 million, an increase of 1.3 percent year-over-year.

The SFIA 2026 Topline Participation Report tracks activity rates for Americans ages six-and-older across 126 sports, fitness and leisure activities, includes a 10-year trend analysis by category, examines inactivity and provides insights into how frequently Americans are meeting federal guidelines for recommended weekly activity.

“Reaching 250 million active Americans is a historic milestone for our industry,” points out Todd Smith, president and CEO of SFIA. “Total and core participation continue to rise, which tells us Americans are not just trying activities, they are staying engaged.

“That kind of sustained participation strengthens communities, drives industry growth and reinforces the essential role sports and fitness play in American life,” Smith adds.

New to the 2025 annual report, the SFIA introduced a measure of how often U.S. consumers elevate their heart rate each week, providing additional activity context beyond its topline participation totals. Under the new metric, the SFIA found that 32 percent of U.S. consumers are meeting the federal recommendation of 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity. The other 68 percent, or two-thirds of participants, were found not to have met the guideline.

For team dealers, the most encouraging news is that among seven categories team sports recorded the strongest year-over-year growth, surpassing 90 million total participants for the first time. And, of course, there’s always pickleball, which continued its five-year streak as the fastest-growing sport.

Also encouraging is that for the first time the share of U.S. consumers who are totally inactive fell below 20 percent, marking seven consecutive years of decline. The only downside is that while inactivity declined for men and women in 2025, women remain more likely than men to be inactive, with the gender gap widening slightly to 6.3 percentage points, up from 5.9 points the previous year.

“Even with strong participation numbers, our work is far from finished,” Smith continues. “The majority of Americans still aren’t meeting federal guidelines for weekly physical activity, teen inactivity levels are rising, and the gap between men’s and women’s inactivity rates has widened.”

NSGA Emphasizes Overall Growth

Meanwhile, those increases in participation in most sports are the most encouraging highlights from the 2026 edition of the National Sporting Goods Association’s (NSGA) Sports Participation in the U.S. report. The participation study saw increases in nine of 10 segments – including team sports (Yay!), individual, indoor, outdoor and wheel sports – tracked by NSGA.

“We are thrilled to see the continued across-the-board growth of more people enjoying the mental and physical benefits of participating in many different sports,” says Nick Rigitano, NSGA director of insights and analysis. “It is good to see people are still prioritizing sports and athleisure activities even during a year that was filled with economic uncertainty.

“It’s an encouraging sign for retailers, team dealers and manufacturers that consumers’ enthusiasm for participating in sports has not waned.”