The Fastest Growing Sport in the United States
SportSoccer has surged in popularity over the last 25-30 years. A 2014 ESPN poll reported that professional soccer ranked as the No. 2 sport after, pro football, among 12- to 17-year-olds. The same survey also reported that Major League Soccer (MLS) was as popular as Major League Baseball (MLB) among the same age group. Both MLS and MLB now claim that 18% of 12- to 17-year-olds are avid fans.
Not only is Major League Soccer as popular with 12- to 17-year olds (a pretty hard demographic to win over) as Major League Baseball. But they are also a lot more children and teens playing soccer now. The U.S. Youth Soccer organization says that participation in soccer is 30 times higher now than it was just 40 years ago. There were 103,432 children registered to play soccer in the U.S. in 1974, 1.6 million children registered to play in 1990, and more than 6 million registered to play in 2014 and now approaching 8 million.The Wall Street Journal noted that youth participation in soccer is double that of tackle football and larger than baseball by about 1 million participants. There are more than 80 Soccer Development Academy facilities that teach players about the most beautiful game in the world.
Industry Overview
The Indoor Sports Facilities Management industry is a very large industry and pretty much thriving in all parts of the world especially in developed countries such as United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Italy et al.
Statistics has it that in the United States of America alone, there are about 1,579 licensed and registered sports and recreation facilities including those who are into franchising responsible for employing about 14,644 employees and the industry rakes in a whooping sum of $1bn annually with an annual growth rate projected at 1.2 percent. No establishment can boast of having a lion share of the available market in this industry.
The Indoor Sports Facilities Management industry will continue to blossom because children and sports lovers will not relent in looking for a secured facility to play sports.
Demographics and Psychographics
Schools, sports clubs and individuals who play soccer or any indoor games will always be a source for indoor sports facilities around them hence the demographic composition for an indoor soccer facility is all encompassing. The truth is that when it comes to playing or watching soccer games, there is indeed a wide range of available customers; every adult and children, both male and female are potential clients.