UK Sports Participation Consumer Report 2024

Understand how sports participation is evolving in the UK with this in-depth report. Explore opportunities to expand sports participation and awareness with data-backed analysis of current behaviour and trends and use this to build your sports insight strategy today.

Sports Participation Consumer – Current Trends

Some 62% of people who don’t play sport do not know anyone who does – rising to 70% in the worst-off socio-economic and household income groups. This puts the participation market in danger of becoming a closed shop and overly reliant on a relatively small core of younger and more affluent regulars.

The cost of living crisis has widened these inequalities in participation and is a factor in declining rates of play seen among the middle-aged too. With the UK’s population structure beginning to age, any extension of this trend poses a threat to longer-term ambitions of helping older people maintain their health by staying active.

The market has an important opportunity to widen its playing base and tackle participation inequality by making sport more visible in people’s social and community networks. Seeing others who play can raise awareness and consideration of opportunity and provide peer support in accessing it.

Sports Participation Consumer Statistics

• UK sports participation levels: There is a decline in participation by people over 45. While this could be a temporary lapse due to factors like a wet winter or spring, health and wealth fluctuations are key.
• UK sports participation by type: Swimming, football, athletics/running and cycling are the UK’s most-played sports. Yet, these are the only sports over one in 10 adults play.
• UK sports participation opportunity: Public sports facilities are much more common than privately owned centres, with more also living close to a public facility than private. This indicates an opportunity for private providers to grow with smaller, community-orientated facilities.

UK Sports Participation Consumer Report – What’s Inside?

Key Topics Analyzed in the Report

• The continuing impact of the cost of living crisis on participation habits, particularly among older and less affluent groups.
• The market’s growing reliance on a relatively small core of younger and better-off participants.
• The extent to which people’s family networks and friendship groups support and influence their participation habits.
• The changing nature of the relationship between playing and watching sport, and what the erosion of historic ties between them means for participation.

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. These are included in other Mintel Reports such as Exercise Trends, Health & Fitness Clubs and Leisure Centres & Swimming Pools.

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.

Making sport more visible in social and community networks can help tackle participation inequality and bring more people into play.

David Walmsley
Research Analyst