[csoccer]

Can anyone point me to a web site or organization who has demographics on who is playing soccer in the US. I am interested in the soccer population and how it is growing compared to other sports as well as information on where the soccer hot spots are in the US.

Thanks for the help.

[mpruitt]

you might want to cross post this in buisness and media, the boards a little bit more visiable. someone should be able to help you out though.

[Real Ray]

http://www.soccertimes.com/newsbriefs/2003/may23.htm

According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers of America International 2003 Superstudy of Sports Participation, 17.641 million Americans played soccer at least once in 2002, a 7.4 percent decrease from the 19.042 million in 2001. Still, the number of players in 2002 represented a 14.6 percent increase from the 1987 benchmark of 15.388 million.

...The report showed 7.783 million avid participants in 2002, down 14.6 percent from the 9,117 million of 2001. Regardless, by that measure, that makes soccer the second most popular U.S. team sport behind basketball (19.982 million) and ahead of softball (5.438 million) in 2002.

1998 Data
http://www.sgma.com/press/1998/press...006-17954.html

1997 Data

Top 15 state participation rates

State -- Participants per 1,000 people
1. -- Utah -- 18.4
2. -- Kansas -- 15.6
3. -- Delaware -- 12.3
4. -- Missouri -- 11.8
5. -- Iowa -- 11.5
6. -- Minnesota -- 10.3
7. -- Indiana -- 10.1
8. -- Connecticut -- 9.8
9. -- Colorado -- 9.7
10. -- Washington -- 9.4
10. -- New York -- 9.4
12. -- New Jersey -- 8.8
12. -- Ohio -- 8.8
14. -- Maryland -- 8.5
15. -- California -- 8.1

Top 15 soccer states
-- State -- No. of Participants
1. -- California -- 2,111,000
2. -- New York -- 1,431,000
3. -- Texas -- 1,276,000
4. -- Pennsylvania -- 1,041,000
5. -- Ohio -- 962,000
6. -- Michigan -- 733,000
7. -- New Jersey -- 641,000
8. -- Maryland -- 611,000
9. -- Florida -- 574,000
10. -- Missouri -- 526,000
11. -- Washington -- 505,000
12. -- Illinois -- 469,000
13. -- North Carolina -- 457,000
14. -- Minnesota -- 450,000
15. -- Indiana -- 447,000

2003 National Federation of State High School Associations Survey.

Basketball remained the most popular sport for girls, with 457,165 participants. Next were outdoor track and field (415,602), volleyball (396,682), softball (357,912), soccer (301,450), cross country (163,360), tennis (162,810) and swimming and diving (141,468).

For boys, the greatest participation was in football, with 1,023,142. Basketball was next with 540,874 participants, followed by outdoor track and field (498,027), baseball (453,792), soccer (345,156), wrestling (239,845), cross country (191,833), golf (162,805), tennis (144,844) and swimming and diving (94,612).