Other positives for basketball team sales include strong momentum at the youth level, growing travel team organizations in several parts of the country and some signs of a pick-up in boys’ participation coming out of the pandemic.

On the downside, girls’ participation is continuing to see a downward trend, out-of-stocks remain a frustration and dealers now find themselves fending off scores of online competitors offering sublimation. Many dealers also lament that footwear, once a core component of the team basketball business, has dried up with many having walked away from the category.  

“It’s a bygone era of showing up for a size run with all the kids,” reports Michael Vick, owner at Mojo Sports, based in Henderson, KY. “It was a lot easier to put together a team package that included a team shoe.”

Vick says coaches have been increasingly letting their players select their own shoes as they’re looking for styles that fit their identity. The decision is often tied to what the NBA star player is wearing.

“They’re hearing from their players, ‘You’re hampering my self-expression, coach,’” says Vick. “Coaches are now hoping they don’t get too much pushback from the team by saying, ‘I don’t care what you wear, but it’s got to be black.’”

Allowing players to wear any shoe as long as it’s a certain color then presents inventory challenges since footwear vendors are looking for orders well ahead of the season. Much of the time servicing footwear is spent scrambling to find fill-ins for certain models and sizes that that are out-of-stock at the vendor level. Without a retail store, returns are a chore for Mojo Sports should a player indicate the sizing was wrong or want to switch out the color. Says Vick, “It ends up being almost more headache than it’s worth.

Mojo Sports still does do a sizeable basketball team uniform business, selling into high schools, middle schools and some AAU programs. Vick marvels at how the costs of sublimated jerseys has quickly come down to become competitive with screenprint and other options as well as the ease of working with uniform providers: “I just build it, order it and I don’t touch it.”

Mojo Sports also sees some opportunities selling backpacks, team socks, shooting shirts and travel suits to players, as well as accessories such as nets to coaches and ADs and spiritwear to fans. However, Vick says much of the wintertime for Mojo Sports is spent selling awards and workout packs as football wraps up, servicing early orders for baseball, and supporting volleyball and soccer travel teams.

“Realistically, basketball is almost more of a breathing and refit time between my spring and fall sports,” he adds.

Hooping Hoosier Style

Basketball remains a significant opportunity for Coaches Corner Sporting Goods, in Terre Haute, IN, as 14 of the 16 largest high school gymnasiums in the U.S. are located in the state of Indiana, largely to support the sport.

“In middle school basketball, kids might play 18 to 24 games in Indiana. I would gather at the middle school level in Florida they play six to eight,” says GM Doc Claussen. “So, although travel ball is huge nationwide, Indiana and the Midwest might be a little bit different.”

Coaches Corner’s core customers run from elementary to high schools, as well as travel teams that makes the sport a year-round selling opportunity.  The dealer outfits customized team uniforms, practice gear, fan gear and socks.

Claussen says some older coaches still look for screenprint or tackle twill embellishment options, but uniforms have largely shifted to sublimation. He believes sublimation ultimately offers more value to the school.

“The days of screenprinting practice jerseys and maybe lower-level reversible mesh jerseys and then doing your own decorating on it, whether through screenprinting or heat transfer images and numbers, has gone to sublimation,” Claussen reports. “In the end, they may pay more upfront, but the longevity could be five to six years instead of buying every couple years. In the end, we are saving schools money.”

Preparation, according to Claussen, has become more important because sublimation still takes longer than in-house decoration.

Like many other team dealers, Coaches Corner no longer offers footwear as Claussen says the category’s become more “internet-driven.” He also cites challenges switching out product, dealing with late deliveries from footwear vendors and gripes from players. “The old-timer coaches still want the team shoe to look the same on everyone, but I think in today’s society that’s an argument maybe the coaches don’t want to get into with the kids and parents. It eliminates agitation.”

Claussen overall feels “pretty good” about participation on the boys’ side, but he believes girls’ participation is still being challenged by travel organizations in other sports such as volleyball, but he’s hopeful that Caitlin Clark, who plays for the Indiana Fever, will inspire some girls to take up basketball. “She and a few other girls that came out last year from the collegiate level have really heightened women’s basketball,” he says. “It’s like Bird and Magic.”

“As we enter our 80th year in business, I look for our basketball business to continue to grow,” reports Vance Wiegand, owner of Egelston-Maynard Sporting Goods in Covington, KY. Serving a tri-state region, specifically Northern Kentucky, Wiegand says basketball has consistently been his second or third largest category and has benefited as participation increased coming out of COVID.

“Basketball remains a strong sport for our youth league, elementary school, middle school and high school customers,” he says.

Egelston-Maynard no longer goes after the team shoe business, but Wiegand believes that’s been replaced with more uniform, equipment and spiritwear options. He adds: “Sublimation has totally changed the way we do business with uniforms and spirit wear. The uniform styles and lettering options are almost unlimited with sublimation.”

He points out that school agreements with shoe companies have made it increasingly difficult to generate new business with high school customers. However, those schools do often explore other sources for their uniforms and equipment once those agreements expire.

In season, Egelston-Maynard finds a steady business fulfilling coach’s game-day needs.

“Our tagline is ‘We’ve got what it takes to play the game,’” says Wiegand. “We stock replacement items like possession indicators, scoreboards and basketball rims that allow our customers to get their facilities quickly ready to play.”

Consistent Sales in Nebraska

The Locker Room in Omaha, NE, is seeing “consistent” growth in basketball with high schools and colleges, but the strongest momentum is being seen at the youth level, according to Mitch McCann, VP–sales and store manager, who points out that they play in the late fall and spring, so that has given the dealer more basketball business from June until February. “You also get the added business from the spirit stores. We launch them for the two sessions as well as the holiday season,” he says.

McCann says more boys in his Nevada region are switching from rec leagues to travel organizations with more indoor facilities opening to support year-round play. Girls are also starting to add basketball travel programs in his market.

“I believe our strongest growth opportunities resides with travel programs,” he says. “They continue to pop up in our area and they typically require the kids to purchase one or two uniforms, warmups and practice gear. We see travel organizations more willing to purchase the higher end gear when the families are paying for the items.”

Among categories, decoration remains a specialty for The Locker Room with top sellers including uniforms, travel gear, coaches gear, spiritwear and bags. “The sublimated uniforms are something that has grown like crazy in basketball,” McCann explains. “We found that we can get reversible sublimated uniforms at a comparable price to screenprinted uniforms and they look so much nicer. It also takes the stress off production by not having to screenprint numbers on four sides of one jersey.”

Challenges servicing the basketball category include the increasing involvement of booster clubs at high schools that creates some friction when also dealing with coaches and athletic directors. High school coaches not wanting to order until their rosters are finalized can also cause rushes. However, McCann said prioritizing basketball, especially the newer travel programs, can pay dividends since most dealers focus on football and the baseball/softball leagues first.

“We like to do web stores for their uniform ordering when working with a travel league,” he adds. “It takes the stress off coach and removes the liability from us.”

Mike Maslowski, owner of MB2 Sports, Olathe, KS, believes basketball participation is “shrinking a little” in his region with increasing competition from soccer as well as due to sports specialization overall.

“The desire for players is to get that signature shoe tied to a professional athlete,” says Maslowski. “But I’d say the biggest challenge in footwear is inventory. Projecting what’s going to be consumed versus what’s produced makes it a real fine line in fulfilling a team’s orders.”

In uniforms, he believes some vendors are better than others in turnaround times, but the primary goal is securing orders from coaches within a sufficient timeline. “Some are highly organized, some are not.”

Strong Hoops in Pennsylvania

Chris Markey, owner of 2 the Tee Outfitters in York, PA, says basketball is “always strong” across boys and girls in central Pennsylvania, with post-pandemic seasons providing a boost in participation. Markey says of the participation lift: “I think it’s parents wanting their kids to get out to do more.”

One trend Markey sees is the return of “shorty shorts” from the 1970s and ‘80s.“Probably two years ago, we started having people ask for them,” he reports, and then college players started rolling their shorts, the Under Armour’s and Nike’s all that started getting shorter shorts, and the team brands started following along. It’s probably going to go back the other way.”

The broader trend is the shift towards sublimation that Markey notes can offer some pain points. The turnaround time for sublimated uniform can take three to six weeks, while a traditional in-house screenprint option takes a day or two. He says fulfilling add-ons can be a “big challenge” with sublimation, noting that the parents that oversee travel organizations often find themselves short on jerseys because they underestimate the turnaround timeframe. As a result, “people like us get yelled at when it’s really not our fault.”

A challenge with working with brands such as Adidas and Under Armour is that it’s often difficult to replenish stock with them when the dealer’s inventory runs out, explains Markey. Often a team can’t replace a style that’s been discontinued.

On the positive side, Markey senses schools and travel teams are “coming back local” for service after facing the hassles of working with online competitors. “If they have to send something back, that’s a pain. You can’t call them on a weekend. Nobody answers the phone. So, I think you’ll see it come back local even more.”

Medallion Sports, based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, is finding a boost to its basketball business from a major recreational program established in nearby Jupiter. “There’s probably 900 kids in it,” says manager Kevin Licata.

Medallion Sports also does a healthy business in basketball with middle schools and high schools while driving some revenue serving adult men’s leagues, police athletic leagues and smaller colleges. Says Licata, “It’s not off the charts by any means. But basketball’s definitely a worthy sport to get involved with because we’ll wrap it up in the end with the awards as well.”

Not selling basketball sneakers can present some obstacles for teams looking for a dealer to support all their needs. A bigger challenge, however, is increasing online competition offering sublimated uniform options. “Whether they’re doing it out of their garage or a warehouse, there’s a plethora of people doing sublimation,” Licata laments. “Some are doing a good job, some are not.”

Andy Nickerson, owner at Wight’s Sporting Goods, Hampden, ME, says basketball remains a “pretty traditional sport” in Maine and a “very important” source of growth for the dealer.

“We’re a full decoration shop, so customized uniforms are a big part of the basketball business,” he says. “But we cover all the aspects, whether it’s a ball, whistle, scorebook, even some of the equipment in the gymnasium, to the off-court apparel, whether team travel wear or spirit wear. It’s one big category to us.”

He believes sublimation has been a game changer in what dealers can bring to uniforms. “Sublimation is certainly allowing programs to have a lot of creativity to their uniforms.”

Middle schools and high schools are “very strong and our traditional, loyal customer base,” adds Nickerson, while travel teams are increasingly offering a year-round opportunity in basketball. “At the travel level, it’s a little more hit or miss because this year’s coordinator or buyer is probably a parent that next year might not be participating.”

Nickerson believes the pandemic provided a boost to participation, with the youth level now “very strong.” He sees a trend toward many kids dropping out of the sport at the high school level either because they’re specializing in another sport, or they weren’t selected on younger age for the travel team.

“I think there’s pros and cons to that process,” says Nickerson. “You’ve given the kids an opportunity at a younger age to get started developing skills in a specific activity. At the same time, some late bloomers are never going to bloom because they’ve already walked away from the sport because they weren’t selected at a young age.”

Mike Bodart, owner of Hoosier Sporting Goods in Columbus, IN, says his business remains “steady” in basketball, finding success working with elementary schools as well as middle schools for uniforms. With a store in downtown Columbus, Bodart derives much of his new business from walk-ins and that presents hurdles competing with other dealers sending road reps to local high schools.

He says not partnering with one of the shoe companies also creates obstacles in landing a high school relationship. “We can still get them a really nice uniform from one of the other brands, but if it doesn’t have a shoe logo on it, they’re often not interested,” he explains.

Hoosier Sporting Goods now offers only sublimated jerseys and Bodart highlights how the turnaround times from its core vendor partner has significantly improved over the years. “We’ll see a promised three-week turnaround show up in two weeks. It’s phenomenal,” he says.

In hard goods, the dealer sells a wide range of items, ranging from basketballs to nets and scorebooks. One frustration is the low margins on basketballs: “We bring the inventory in, sit on it, and when we sell it, we only make a few bucks.”

Bodart believes participation in his region on the boys’ side remains “steady,” but girls’ participation has dropped off after seeing a boost due to the exploits of Ali Patberg, who earned 2015 Gatorade Indiana High School Player of the Year while playing at Columbus North High School before playing for Indiana University and recently becoming an assistant coach for her college team.

He’s hoping Clark, entering her sophomore year with the Indiana Fever, “gets girls rejuvenated again to play basketball.”

INSIDE THE HOOP NUMBERS

Basketball continues to be the most-popular team sport in the U.S., from the point of view of participation covering both team and recreational play. According to figures released by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) based on an extensive survey taken in 2023, there are 29.7 million Americans, ages six and above, who play basketball.

Basketball participation grew 5.6 percent year over year and is ahead 4.3 percent on a five-year average from 2018 to 2023. The growth in basketball participation has been solid and steady since 2016.

“Both the 6-12 and 13-17 age groups saw a year-over-year increase in participation from 2022 to 2023,” Alex Kerman, senior director of research, SFIA, tells Team Insight. “Additionally, core participation for ages 6-12 and core female categories climbed, although there was a slight decrease in core participation for ages 13-17. In 2024, basketball will be the first team sport tracked by SFIA to reach 30 million participants in the U.S.

Indeed, one concerning trend is the growth is being driven by casual participants versus core participants who are more likely to continue playing the sport. Back in 2019 (pre-COVID), there were 24.9 million players, of which 9.7 million were casual participants (play one to 12 times a year) and 15.2 million were core (play 13 times or more a year). By 2023, the number of casual participants had grown to 14.4 million while core players were up slightly, to 15.3 million.

In a separate report from NFHS, based on figures collected during the 2023-24 school year, basketball remains the number one sport for both girls and boys, in terms of the number of schools that sponsor teams in the U.S. For girls, 18,090 high schools have a basketball team; for boys, 18,587.

However, girls’ basketball continues to lose participants at the high school level despite attention to the sport brought by the likes of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. A total of 367,284 girls played high school basketball over the 2023-24 school year, down 1.6 percent year over year and losing 20 percent of its participants over the last two decades.

Boys’ basketball ranks third among team sports played, behind football and track and field, with 536,668 participants for the 2023-24 school year, slightly up from 537,438 participants a year ago. Basketball participation numbers among boys has remained fairly steady with 544,311 boys playing high school basketball two decades ago in the 2003-04 season.

The SFIA’s most current Manufacturers Sales by Category Report reveals that the basketball sector continues to build on gains seen in recent years. The category received a significant boost during the pandemic as households stuck in their homes during lockdown periods installed basketball systems in their backyards.

Wholesale sales of basketball equipment (backboards, basketballs, nets, rims and other accessories) were $695.4 million in 2023, up 10.1 percent year over year and ahead 53.4 percent since 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. Among sub-categories within equipment since 2019, basketballs sales reached $332.9 in 2023, up 5.9 percent year over year and 44.2 percent since 2019; backboards, $299.8 million, climbing 14.3 percent year over year and 65.5 percent since 2019; and other/accessories, $62.8 million, up 14.0 percent year over year and 51.3 percent since 2019.

In the team uniform category in 2023, wholesale sales of basketball uniforms grew 5.6 percent to $288.9 million and is now ahead 34.3 percent versus 2019. Of the five uniform categories (baseball, basketball, football, soccer and volleyball) tracked by SFIA, the basketball category had the strongest statistical rate of growth from 2019-2023.