The continuing cost of living crisis is increasing the market’s reliance on its more affluent core audience. Although overall value is still on the rise, attendances are fragile in sports other than football and some major events are seeing demand for lower-cost tickets failing to keep up with sales of premium seats and hospitality experiences.
UK Spectator Sports Market – Current Landscape
The main non-economic threat the market faces is people’s relative disinterest in sports other than football and tennis outside the Olympic Games. Athletics, swimming, gymnastics etc need to help Olympic audiences discover more opportunities to watch and develop formats that can engage them without the stardust of the Games.
Spectator sports can build engagement beyond live events through the digital media platforms where young people especially spend the bulk of their viewing time. With broadcast rights fees potentially heading for decline, the value of live events will increasingly lie in generating content to fuel the output of creators in these channels.
UK Spectator Sports Market Statistics
- UK sports consumer habits: Football dominates the spectator sports landscape, but a third of men aged 16-34 watched live boxing in 2024.
UK Spectator Sports Market Report – What’s Inside?
Key Topics Analysed in the Report
- The continuing impact of the cost of living crisis on spectator sports attendance habits, particularly beyond marquee events
- The extent to which technology is changing how people follow spectator sports
- The importance of major international events as drivers of market value, interest and engagement
- The potential of Olympic sports to expand the audience base, particularly among women and the young
Report Scope
This report focuses on UK adults’ experience of watching live spectator sport, whether at an event venue, on television or on other digital devices via the internet. Listening to live radio commentary and watching television highlights or live coverage on a time-shift basis are not included in the core definition of the report.
Market value estimations comprise consumer expenditure on sports event tickets only. Spending on sports television and internet service subscriptions is excluded, as is secondary expenditure at spectator sports venues (on food, beverages, merchandise etc).
Meet the Expert Behind the Analysis
This report was written by David Walmsley. David is a research analyst at Mintel focusing on the sport and leisure sectors, which he has covered for more than 15 years. Formerly a journalist with the BBC, Independent News & Media and the SportBusiness Group, he holds an honours degree in International Studies from the University of Birmingham.
The Olympics and Euros boosted interest in live sport in 2024 but living-cost pressures are weakening demand for attendance beyond top-tier events and experiences.
David Walmsley
Research Analyst
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Executive Summary
- Opportunities for the spectator sports market
- Support women’s Olympic sports to find female fans
- Embrace new formats to draw different crowds
- Give live events a longer shelf life
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Market size & forecast
- Market predictions
- Attendance spending heads for £2 billion barrier
- Record football season masks difficulties facing other sports
- Graph 1: leading spectator sport segment attendances, 2023/24
- Affluent core audience keeping market’s top end buoyant
- Graph 2: the financial confidence index, 2016-24
- TV coverage has kept sport visible to all…
- Graph 3: peak viewing figures for major sports events, 2024
- …but other media platforms are engaging the young
- Graph 4: usage of social media platforms in the last three months, by age, 2024
- What consumers want and why
- Paris Olympics top the major event podium…
- Graph 5: past-year experience of watching live sport, 2024
- …but football is still the league leader
- Graph 6: sports watched live, 2022-24
- Euro 2024 was many women’s only window onto the football world
- Graph 7: watching Euro 2024 only, by age and gender, 2024
- Athletics and swimming beat football and tennis at Paris 2024
- Graph 8: sports watched live at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games
- Food and drink are part of the Olympic viewing experience for most
- Graph 9: Paris Olympic Games-related spending, 2024
- Olympic sponsorships build brand recognition and favourability
- Graph 10: preference for Olympic sponsor brands, by Games-related spending, 2024
- Innovation and marketing
- Asda’s ‘Nanzones’ highlight sport’s social skills
- Sport meets growing demand for immersive leisure
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Market Dynamics
- Market size
- Spectator sports spending tops £1.7 billion
- Football’s pulling power drives double-digit value growth
- Market forecast
- Major event hosting to help sport out-perform the wider economy
- Premier League’s popularity and Euro 2028 will keep fans spending
- Market segmentation
- Football attracts more than three quarters of all spectators
- Graph 11: leading spectator sport attendances, 2018-24
- Club football draws record crowds
- Graph 12: English league football attendances, 2018/19-2023/24
- Living-cost crisis creates economic divide at horseracing showpiece
- Graph 13: horseracing attendances, 2018-24
- Competitive sporting summer squeezes cricket attendances
- Graph 14: English cricket attendances, 2019-24
- Shrinking Premiership raises risk for club rugby union
- Graph 15: Premiership rugby union attendances, 2018/19-2023/24
- Contrasting fortunes for rugby league’s Grand Final and Magic Weekend
- Graph 16: Super League rugby league attendances, 2019-24
- Market drivers
- Spectator sports have outperformed the wider economy…
- Graph 17: GDP, 2021-24
- …but the cost of living crisis has hit some harder than others
- Graph 18: perception of the state of the cost of living crisis in the UK, 2024
- Market leans on more affluent core…
- Graph 19: the financial wellbeing index, 2016-24
- …and will continue to do so for at least the year ahead
- Graph 20: the financial confidence index, 2016-24
- TV coverage has kept sport visible to all…
- Graph 21: peak viewing figures for major sports events, 2024
- …as summer of major events highlights reach of free-to-air channels
- Pay TV sport viewing grows despite living-cost crisis
- Other media platforms are connecting sport with the young
- Graph 22: usage of social media platforms in the last three months, by age, 2024
- Technology is set to accelerate the trend…
- …with YouTube offering sports broadcasting a new home
- Stadiums are investing in experiences to compete…
- …and prioritising sustainability too
- Graph 23: consumers who consider sustainability a high priority across selected categories, by age, 2023
- Women’s sports are on the rise…
- Graph 24: WSL average matchday revenue per club, 2022/23-2024/25
- The TikTok Olympics
- …on screens as well as in stadiums
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What Consumers Want and Why
- Sports fans
- Major occasions broaden market’s reach
- Graph 25: experience of live sport, 2018-24
- Paris 2024 reached new audiences
- Olympics’ appeal extends beyond regular fans
- Graph 26: experience of watching major sporting events live, 2024
- Sports audiences skew young – especially around the Games
- Graph 27: watching live sport, by age, 2024
- Paris 2024 targeted a younger crowd
- Sports followed
- Football dominates the landscape…
- Graph 28: sports watched live, 2022-24
- …but other sports can offer brands access to key target groups
- Graph 29: watching live rugby union, by annual household income, 2024
- More than football
- Olympics are valued for their variety
- Graph 30: repertoires of sports watched, 2024
- Sports need to innovate to sustain Games interest
- Graph 31: watching major athletics and cycling events, 2023 and 2024
- Following football
- Euro 2024 keeps international football in touch with the club game
- Graph 32: experience of live football, 2024
- Team loyalties broaden fans’ competitive interests
- Graph 33: repertoires of football competitions* watched live, 2024
- International football reaches beyond core crowd
- Graph 34: watching Euro 2024 only, by age and gender, 2024
- Watching the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
- Athletics and swimming top the viewing podium
- Graph 35: sports watched live at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games
- Support Olympic sports to reach female audiences
- Graph 36: Olympic sports watched live, by gender, 2024
- Olympic surfing enjoyed from the sofa
- Younger men most likely to socialise around major events
- Graph 37: methods of watching the Paris Olympic Games, by age and gender, 2024
- Pubs can gain from promoting sports viewing with friends
- Graph 38: watching live Olympic sport with friends, by location, 2024
- Food and drink central to the Games viewing experience
- Social sports spending is led by the young
- Graph 39: purchasing food and alcoholic drinks to consume while watching the Paris Olympic Games, 2024
- Attitudes towards the Olympic Games
- Olympics fuel national pride
- Olympics leave viewers with a golden glow
- Graph 40: attitudes towards the Olympic Games, 2024
- Olympic shoppers support sponsor brands
- Graph 41: preference for Olympic sponsor brands, by Games-related spending, 2024
- Sponsor recognition skews young…
- Graph 42: recognition of Olympic sponsors, by lifestage, 2024
- …and towards the better off
- Graph 43: recollection of Olympic sponsors, by socio-economic grade and annual household income, 2024
- Great potential – but hard to unlock
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Innovation And Marketing Trends
- Launch activity and innovation
- Asda’s ‘Nanzones’ bring elderly fans together
- Bring your own boots: Stadium tours get active
- WhatsApp Channels help fans focus on specific interests
- Today I feel like Gianni Infantino
- Sport leans on pop culture connections
- Retro kits have timeless appeal
- Arsenal steps into streetwear
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Appendix
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Market size: underlying data
- Market forecast: underlying data
- Market forecast and prediction intervals
- Forecast methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Consumer research methodology
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