It was an Olympics year, for sure, and that brought the regular quadrennial interest to the “other” sports such as track and field, softball and even breakdancing (a sport not covered in these pages). But driving the team sports business at the grassroots level was increased participation, equipment innovations and tech advances that made playing, watching and evaluating team sports easier and more accessible.

Team Insight went back into our pages and news items from the past 12 months to pick out the 10 that had the most impact on team dealers across America. So here, from number 10 to the top story of the year, are our team stories of 2024 that will continue to have an impact on business into 2025 and beyond.

10. Pickleball Earns Spot As A Varsity Sport

In 2023, Montgomery County in Maryland became the country’s first district to include pickleball as a varsity sport when it launched with 11 high schools. This past July, it expanded to all 25 high schools in the district in a partnership with D.C. Pickleball Team, the area’s Major League Pickleball team, and Joola, a leading pickleball paddle maker.

“Pickleball for all,” says Dr. Jeff Sullivan, Montgomery County public school’s athletic director. “It is an extremely inclusive sport that spans all ages and demographics. We believe pickleball is not something that will just benefit student athletes while they’re here in our program, but most importantly it is going to aid life-long health and well-being.”

Continuing as the country’s fastest-growing sport, pickleball totaled 13.6 million participants in 2023, up 51.8 percent year over year and 223.5 percent over the last three years. Continued rapid growth is expected to be supported by investments in building pickleball courts, the arrival of two professional pickleball leagues and the roll out of pickleball restaurant-entertainment concepts with clever names like Chicken N Pickle and Camp Pickl.

While initially seen as a sport strictly for retirees, pickleball is now known for its broad appeal across ages. Ages 18-34 represent the largest age bracket of pickleball players, totaling 28.8 percent of all players, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), with the fastest-growing segment between the ages of 18-24. This is, indeed, not your grandparents’ sport alone.

Like their elders, kids are attracted to the sports ease of play, low cost of entry and sociability.

Editorial comment: Now if only that “thwock, thwock” sound of the ball wasn’t so darn annoying.

9. NIL High School Deals Arrive

In mid-October, North Carolina became the 41st state to permit high school student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL). Florida was the second big state this year to allow NIL deals at the high school level, joining some smaller states (Delaware, South Dakota).

Bill Carter, who runs the NIL consulting firm Student-Athlete Insights, says there’s still a few major “holdouts” prohibiting NIL action at high schools, notably Texas, with more student athletes than any other state, and Ohio. However, he expects they’ll eventually be allowed.

A report last year from the Baird investment firm described NIL deals as a “game-changer” for team sports with the financial incentive being “a catalyst for early and continued participation for amateur athletes.”

Carter believes NIL deals have been a “net positive” for high school sports, although the big potential payback is largely at the college level. Carter says: “At the high school level, very, very few students are going to make a significant amount of money. They’re going to make an amount of money in line with, say, a part time job or a summer job.”

Editorial comment: Yet the impact is undeniable and will only become more of a factor in youth sports. Can the day of a 10-year-old getting his own pizza deal be far away?

8. Caitlin Clark Puts Spotlight on Women’s Sports

The “Caitlin Clark Effect” propelled the 2024 national championship to become the most-watched game in women’s college basketball history. She then lifted the WNBA to finish with its highest attendance in 22 years.

The WNBA Rookie of the Year continues to rack up records and praise, including Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman describing her as a “generational” talent for the game of women’s basketball, likening Clark to Michael Jordan’s impact on men’s basketball and Tiger Woods’ on golf.  

Other signs of women’s sports breaking out include:

• In early September, the National Women’s Soccer League’s (NWSL) announced that regular-season attendance had surpassed 1.5 million, breaking the previous record of 1.4 million with seven weeks of regular-season play to go.

• On September 22, the first-ever regular-season women’s volleyball match shown on ABC, between Nebraska and Louisville, drew 684,000 viewers, marking the most-watched volleyball game on any ESPN platform.

A study from The Sports Innovation Lab concluded the women’s sport merchandise market is worth an estimated $4 billion annually, but supply is falling short of demand. An accompanying survey found 79 percent of women’s sports fans would purchase more women’s sports merchandise if more options were available.

To drive home the point, Angela Ruggiero, co-founder of the Sports Innovation Lab and gold medalist in ice hockey, said in a statement: “Women’s sports are the best value investment a brand can make right now. Fans are starved for options and are willing and able to spend with the companies that show up authentically as part of the community.”

Editorial comment: And stay tuned for the March/April issue of Team Insight, which has been focused annually on women’s and girls’ sports for more than a decade. Talk about ahead of the curve!

7. Olympics Shine as Team Sports Promoter

Merci beaucoup Paris! The Summer Olympics saw an 82 percent surge in U.S. viewership as compared to the Tokyo Olympics, boosted by the return of spectators after pandemic-related restrictions, Simone Biles’ comeback and scenic Paris backdrops. The 17-day event tallied the highest viewers since the 2012 London Olympics.

Among the events delivering record-breaking ratings:

• The U.S. men’s basketball team win over France averaged 19.5 million viewers, ranking as the most-watched gold medal game since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

• The U.S. women’s national soccer team’s victory over Brazil averaged approximately nine million viewers, the most-watched gold medal soccer game since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

• The U.S. women’s gymnastics team final averaged 12.7 million viewers, an all-time high for a daytime Olympics event and more than any single game of the 2024 NBA Finals.

The rebound in viewership eased concerns that the Olympics were losing relevance with poor ratings also seen at recent Winter Olympics. The games offer a rare opportunity to highlight some sports generally receiving scant coverage. A survey of U.S. adults taken in July from research firm Numerator found the top five sports viewers planned to watch were gymnastics (75 percent), swimming (60 percent), track and field (39 percent), diving (37 percent) and volleyball (25 percent).

Editorial comment: Baseball/softball were one of five additional sports (for some reason they made the two sports as one, but who’s counting?) set to feature at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The IOC approved the inclusion of baseball-softball in LA28 last year, along with lacrosse sixes, flag football (see item No. 3 below), T20 cricket and squash.

6. NSGA Renames Event to Leadership Conference

The National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) held its first event under a new name, the NSGA Leadership Conference (formerly known as the Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit). The new name reflects the event’s evolution into an education and networking vehicle for the sporting goods industry after forming its first networking meeting held in 1965 in Bermuda to discuss industry issues and challenges.

In recent years, speakers have included sports legends such as Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Cal Ripken, Jr., Billy Beane, Bill Walton and Sugar Ray Leonard, but each year also includes motivational speakers and business experts supporting education sessions exploring hot topics impacting the industry. This year’s event held in Phoenix featured discussions on AI (artificial intelligence), inclusion and NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) and motivational presentations from Basketball Hall of Fame member Ann Meyers Drysdale and baseball legend Steve Garvey.

NSGA president and CEO Matt Carlson notes that the name change complements other event improvements like the speed networking component, where industry suppliers and distributors are matched together in a “speed dating” format.

Next year’s event is set for the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on May 18-20.

Editorial comment: Our editors have attended every NSGA Conference for more than three decades and were instrumental in the formation of the Team Dealer Summit a number of years back. It is good to see the event rebounding post-COVID and serving as THE meeting place for the sporting goods industry these days.

5. A Call for Resilient Supply Chains

On a decidedly less positive note, football helmets, baseball gloves, baseballs, hockey sticks, golf balls, tennis balls cleats, uniforms and a host of other sports gear all faced severe inventory shortages at points during the pandemic, particularly in 2022 as players returned to the field and courts after two seasons being homebound. The shortages were attributed mostly to COVID-related issues, including China factory shutdowns, container bottlenecks outside ports as supply chains struggled to catch up to demand after lockdowns eased, and a lack of workers.

To many, however, the shortages demonstrated the need for more “resilient” supply chains that many were calling for prior to the pandemic. While inventories have rebalanced over the last two years (and even led to an overabundance in many cases), periodic shortages are expected to continue as unexpected events caused by climate change and geo-politics continue to threaten on-time deliveries.

“Reliable supply chains have gone from an afterthought pre-pandemic to the forefront of trade today,” Bill Sells, SVP, government and public affairs at SFIA, tells Team Insight. “SFIA engages on supply chain challenges posed by potential U.S. labor strikes at ports, railroads and UPS to keep commerce flowing. Diversification of sourcing and distribution is needed to limit exposure to supply chain disruptions, but the lapse of the GSP tariff relief program leaves companies with fewer viable sourcing options which is a challenge.”

Editorial comment: Who would have thought that Houti rebel attacks would impact the supply of team sports products in America, but that speaks to the global supply chain challenges faced in every business in this modern economy.

4. BSN Sports Finds Bigger PE Partner

Illustrating the continued attractiveness of companies involved in the business of team sports, Varsity Sports, comprised of BSN Sports and Varsity Spirit, was sold to private-equity powerhouse KKR from Bain Capital reportedly for $4.75 billion earlier this year. Bain had purchased the business in 2018 for about $2.5 billion from Charlesbank Capital Partners and Partners Group with Charlesbank retaining a minority stake. The deal followed Varsity Sports’ sale of October 2023 of the Herff Jones Graduation Business to Atlas Holdings.  

Adam Blumenfeld, CEO of Varsity Brands, tells Team Insight: “KKR, as our partner, is a game changer because they are the second largest private equity firm in the world, give us significant financial and strategic flexibility to aid truly transformational thinking, have an amazing domestic and global footprint for supply chain, logistics, technology, and digital/regular way growth, and offer us a broad-based ownership program that allows every one of our 6800 full-time employees (and new ones who join) – from the factory floor to the sales pros doors – to enjoy the benefits of ownership, inclusiveness and the culture of support and family that comes with it.”

Editorial comment: Love them or hate them – and team dealers certainly fall in both categories –  BSN Sports remains the largest team dealer in America and with this even-stronger financial backing promises to remain a factor for many years to come.

3. Flag Football Gains Olympic Boost

The decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in October 2023 to include flag football for the first time in the Summer Olympics in time for the Los Angeles games put momentum behind the sport into overdrive. In particular, the prospect of seeing current and former NFL stars compete is driving significant media buzz.

The growth continues to be supported by significant investments from the NFL, which has made NFL Flag the largest youth flag football program in the U.S., with more than 600,000 participants. Also fueling participation is more states adding flag football championships and interest from girls.

In August, Hawaii became the 12th state in the country to sanction girls’ flag football as a high school sport. In that same month, flag football became the 18th sport for which the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) planned to write national playing rules and the first new sport offering since boys’ lacrosse (2000) and girls’ lacrosse (2016).

Editorial comment: Will Patrick Mahomes play or not play in the LA Olympics? That’s one of many questions that will pique interest in flag as the Games approach.

2. Momentec Brands Creates Uniform Juggernaut

By far the biggest and most impactful financial news in team sports in 2024 was the acquisition by Platinum Equity of both Augusta Sportwear Brands (ASB) and Founder Sport Group (FSG) and the merger of the two former strong competitors to create a team uniform and fan apparel heavyweight. The partnership marries ASB’s portfolio (Augusta Sportswear, Holloway, High Five, Pacific Headwear, Russell Athletic and CCM) with FSG’s (Under Armour (uniforms), Badger, Alleson, C2, ProSphere, Garb Athletics and Flash.)

In merging ASB and FSG, Platinum Equity promised to create a one-stop shop for on-field uniforms and fanwear across price ranges “to make more brands available to more consumers in more communities.” It also pledged to further reduce turnaround times, create a more efficient supply chain and bring further advances in sublimation printing and other technologies in the team space.

“The core market for youth sports apparel and accessories has grown steadily over the past decade, but the ecosystem is highly fragmented and, in many ways, inefficient,” Platinum Equity co-president Louis Samson says in explaining the allure and potential of the two brands.

By early April, the merged company had formed a new corporate identity, Momentec Brands, and realigned numerous leadership responsibilities, including installing FSG CEO John Anton as CEO and ASB CEO David Elliott as vice chairman.

By June, new recruits arrived with the hires of Mike Moore, ex-Fanatics, as CFO; Joel Bennink, who formerly guided compete/sports apparel at Under Armour, as SVP of product; and David Baxter, formerly Under Armour’s Americas chief, as chairman.

Editorial comment: The next impact will come in early 2025 when the websites of augustasportswear.com and foundersport.com will combine into momentecbrands.com. That will certainly be a game changer for team dealers used to working through both brands.

1. Team Sports Continued Pandemic Recovery

And, finally, the good news! Team sports are back, baby, and showing signs of being stronger than ever.

That’s because in 2024 almost all team sports continued to robustly recover from the suspension of play during the early stages of the pandemic. NFHS found more than eight million participants competed in high school sports in the 2023-24 school year — an all-time record and the second consecutive increase after numbers tumbled during the pandemic. Gains were led by outdoor track and field, volleyball and soccer, while eleven-player football participation grew for the second consecutive year and both girls’ and boys’ wrestling showed gains.

SFIA found team sports participants in 2023 grew 11 percent year-over-year, marking the highest number of team sports participants since 2014 and the third straight year of positive gains. Only four of the 24 team sports SFIA tracks showed year-over-year declines.

“This growth underscores the resilience and enduring appeal of team sports in our communities,” states Alex Kerman, SFIA’s senior director, research and business operations at SFIA. “While we celebrate these gains, the industry needs to continue to focus on converting casual players to core players so we can strive towards a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels.”

Editorial comment: And Team Insight will be here in 2025 to document it all once again.