UK Sports Participation Consumer Report 2025
"The market has strong potential to grow female participation, but must show women that sports can offer them fitness gains as well as simple fun."
David Walmsley, Research Analyst
UK Sports Participation Trends
- Female interest in sport is underserved: while 51% of women currently play, a further 13% don’t but would like to do so – double the participation gap seen among men.
- The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on women’s spending power is a barrier to getting those potential players active, but so too is a female focus on fitness that rules out for many sports they perceive as only for fun.
- Elsewhere, though, Gen Z and younger Millennials’ prioritisation of their health and wellbeing is creating an opportunity for employers to attract and retain these generations by offering sport-based workplace benefits.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
- Changing patterns of sports participation, particularly among younger people
- The contrasting roles of fun and fitness as drivers of interest in playing sport
- Opportunities to grow female participation across a wider range of sports
- The role of sports participation in supporting good physical and mental health
- The value of sport-related benefits to employee wellbeing programmes
Report Scope
Mintel’s definition of ‘participation sports’ is based on that set out by Sport England, which states that ‘the purpose of the activity must be sporting and not a means to another purpose’ and that it ‘must have an established structure, defined by rules, and where appropriate, organised national or international competition’.
Athletic activities undertaken for fitness rather than competitive purposes, such as aerobics and/or weight training in a gym, are considered outside the scope of this Report.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Opportunities for the sports participation market
- Get more women into play – and not just among the young
- Offer fun and fitness – not one or the other
- Graph 1: playing sport for fun and fitness, 2025
- Use sport-based benefits to attract and retain young employees
- Something for everyone: mums, dads and Gen Zs
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Market size and forecast
- Market predictions
- Leisure centres and regular play drive spending growth
- Health vs wealth will shape the future of sports spending
- Graph 2: forecast of consumer expenditure on sports participation, 2019-30
- What consumers want and why
- Playing numbers on the rise
- Graph 3: past-year participation in sport, 2023-25
- Growth is led by swimming, basketball and table tennis
- Graph 4: sports played, 2023-25
- Repertoires beat recruits
- Graph 5: past-year participation and future interest in playing sport, 2025
- Fitness and fun are sport’s main participation drivers
- Graph 6: motives for playing sport amongst current and potential players, 2025
- Employee expectations are high on health
- Graph 7: attitudes towards health and wellbeing at work, 2025
- Innovation and marketing
- Promotion and marketing has a strong female focus
- New-concept PE kit aims to help keep girls playing sport
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MARKET DYNAMICS
- Market size
- Frequent participation hits a historic high
- Graph 8: adult participation in sport at least twice in the last 28 days, 2019-24
- Volume growth fuels record spending
- Graph 9: consumer expenditure* on sports participation, 2019-25
- Market forecast
- Health vs wealth will shape the future of sports spending
- Graph 10: forecast of consumer expenditure on sports participation, 2019-30
- Sport can rival the gym, but rising living costs make free play most attractive
- Market segmentation
- Gen Z participation boom drives running’s rise
- Graph 11: most popular sports, by twice-monthly or more frequent participation, 2022-24*
- Market drivers
- Living cost pressures continue to be felt by most
- Graph 12: perceptions of the cost-of-living crisis, 2024-25
- Flexible pricing can protect sports players’ spend
- Invest in facilities to raise participation rates
- Grey games set to grow in value
- Graph 13: population change projections, by age group, 2025-35
- Adapt to older people’s abilities to build physical, mental and social appeal
- Looking after ourselves
- Health priorities open a wellbeing opportunity
- Graph 14: top three aspects of health consumers would like to improve, 2025
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Sports participation
- Playing numbers on the rise
- Growth is led by under-25s
- Graph 15: 16-24s’ past-year participation in sport, by gender, 2023-25
- Middle aged slower to return to action
- Graph 16: past-year participation in sport, by age and gender, 2023-25
- Better access for the better off
- Participation base shifts further towards the better off
- Graph 17: past-year sports participation base, by annual household income, 2024 and 2025
- Sports played
- More sports break the 10% participation barrier
- Graph 18: sports played, 2025
- Growth is led by swimming, basketball and table tennis
- Graph 19: sports played, 2023-25
- Casual hoops and tables can keep 35-44s in the game
- Basketball Lite: the lunchtime league
- Growing participation
- Repertoires beat recruits
- Graph 20: past-year participation and future interest in playing sport, 2025
- Cross-promote fitness sports to add variety to workout regimes
- Graph 21: repertoires of sports played and interest in playing, 2024-26
- Look at badminton for pop-up potential
- Graph 22: past-year participation and future interest, by sport, 2025
- Rally Remix to shuffle the shuttle for Gen Z
- Female appeal extends beyond the young
- Women’s play is the big opportunity for growth
- Graph 23: women’s past-year participation and future interest in sport, by age, 2025
- Use women’s spectator sports platforms to grow team sports’ female appeal
- Graph 24: female past-year participation and future interest in sport, 2025
- Motivating play
- Fun and fitness aren’t seen as teammates
- Fitness and fun are sport’s main participation drivers
- Graph 25: motives for playing sport, 2025
- Show sport’s fun side to fitness-focused women
- Graph 26: motives for playing sport, by age and gender, 2025
- Fun sports and fitness activities stay in their lanes
- Graph 27: most popular sports among people who play to spend time with friends, 2025
- Graph 28: most popular sports among people who play to keep fit/get fitter, 2025
- Switch sides to challenge preconceptions
- A big opportunity for smaller sports to build female participation through family play
- Graph 29: interest in playing sport as a means of spending time with family, by age and gender, 2025
- Climb & Connect for mums and daughters
- Sport and work
- Employee expectations are high on health
- Graph 30: attitudes towards health and wellbeing at work, 2025
- Offer sport and fitness benefits to attract healthier candidates
- Graph 31: attitudes towards health and wellbeing at work, by sports participation status, 2025
- Wellbeing at work
- Younger people bring their health focus to work
- Graph 32: attitudes towards health and wellbeing at work, by generation, 2025
- Active Socials can bring Gen Z employees together around sport
- Employers are taking their health responsibilities seriously
- Graph 33: access to health and wellbeing programmes at work, 2025
- Participation rates are high where programmes are available
- Graph 34: repertoires of health and wellbeing programmes used, 2025
- More sport is needed in health and wellbeing support
- Graph 35: access to employee health and wellbeing programmes, 2025
- If you build it, they will come to work out and play
- Graph 36: use of employee health and wellbeing programmes, 2025
- Fitness focus ranks gyms above sport…
- Graph 37: interest in employee health and wellbeing programmes, 2025
- …especially among female employees
- Graph 38: interest in employee health and wellbeing programmes, by gender, 2025
- Lunchtime leagues and breakfast clubs can get office dads more active
- Graph 39: interest in employee health and wellbeing programmes, by parental status, 2025
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GOVERNING BODIES
- New strategy for British Cycling
- England Athletics offers new support for independent runners
- The FA shoots for growth in the grassroots and female games
- LTA aims to give tennis participation a more competitive edge
- Swim England sets out strategy for change
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INNOVATION AND MARKETING TRENDS
- Launch activity and innovation
- ASICS redesigns PE kit to help keep girls playing sport
- Undropped: PE kit based on the Inclusive Sportswear Charter
- Britain’s 1,000th padel court opens
- Graph 40: padel court numbers, 2019-25
- Grassroots athletics programme lays down foundations of fun
- ‘LET’S GO’: run, push, jump, throw!
- No ball games? Yes ball games
- London Lions say yes to ball games
- Surf’s up
- Lost Shore opening day
- Women’s sport research hub opens
- A mission to revolutionise the women’s sport ecosystem
- London Mayor looks to widen participation and reduce youth crime
- Marketing and promotional activity
- Nike backs girl-powered PE lessons
- Tennis campaign targets lapsed women players
- The FA promotes female football participation
- ‘Made for This Game’ pushes women and girls to take their rightful place on the pitch
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APPENDIX
- Supplementary data
- Market segmentation
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Market size: underlying data
- Market forecast: underlying data
- Market forecast and prediction intervals (value)
- Forecast methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Generations
- Consumer research methodology
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