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 | Planet Extras! | | Industry News: Group Admits Mistake, Returns Inline Skating to Top-30 List! Inline Skating Ranked 21st on List of Favorite U.S. Sports Activities By Robert "Just the Factoids" Burnson Inline skating is back on A spokesman for the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association (SGMA) said today that inline skating had been inadvertently omitted from the list the group posted Monday. To rectify the error, the group posted a new list today, which ranks inline skating as the 21st most popular sports activity in the United States. Right above inline skating on the list is RV camping (19th) and exercising with an abdominal machine (20th). The list is based on the Superstudy of Sports Participation, a survey conducted in January by Sports Data Group, Inc. The study estimates that 17.3 million Americans (ages six and over) used inline skates at least once in 2004. Last year, inline skating was ranked 19th on SGMA's list of top sports activities and was estimated to have 19.2 million participants. Roces USA president The good news is that "participation in the sport is still high," he said. The bad news is that "the participation trend, unfortunately, remains negative." "Seventeen million participants is a very substantial population of skaters, and a solid foundation for the activity," said D'Entremont, the past chairman of the now-defunct International Inline Skating Association. "But the continued negative participation trend suggests that consumers are finding something else to do with their time." He added that he found the declining numbers to be counterintuitive, given the growing number of skate parks, pathways, and inline events in the country. Participation in inline skating reached an all-time high in the United States in the 1990s. At the peak of the Rollerblade craze, in 1998, 32 million Americans were estimated to be using inline skates. But since then, the number of inline skaters has fallen. Allan Wright, founder of "Frankly, I am not disappointed by the new number," he said. "It shows that the industry is still heading down, but not as fast as in 2002, when there was a drop of 4.5 million skaters, or 2003, when there was a drop of 2.3 million skaters." "The 2004 drop of 1.9 million shows that the curve is flattening out, and means that we are probably nearing the bottom of the downturn." Roces' D'Entremont agreed. "The market seems to be finding it’s natural level," he said. "The numbers are not being driven by any particular market force (such as innovation, pricing, promotions or advertising) and likely represent a sustainable volume for years to come." SGMA releases its list of the top-30 U.S. sports activities each spring. Bowling always takes the top spot. (This year it is estimated to have 53.6 million participants.) Next comes treadmill exercise, camping, stretching and walking. Ice skating is the only other kind of skating to make the list (other skating categories include quad roller skating and skateboarding). But though ice skating is a double-Olympic sport (speed skating and figure skating), it finished only 26th on the list, five notches below inline skating. Right below it on the list is another Olympic sport: horseback riding. So apparently, ranking high on the list doesn't mean everything. (Talk about this story ... in the forum.) (posted on April 13, 2005) | Discuss Related reading • Inline skating falls from list of top sports (the Planet story) • Inline Skating grew by 310 percent since 1990 (the Planet story) | ||||||||||
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