The sport industry is losing participants.

The following numbers from the Sportsplex Operators and Developers Association (SODA) highlight that people are not registering for leagues/events as they have in the past.

So far we have southern facilities reporting declines as high as 35% in league enrollments in baseball/softball.

The Northeast is getting clobbered as well with an average decline of about 24% in baseball/softball, 17% in youth soccer and 20% in Adult Flag Football.

Canada is down about 17-20% in baseball/softball thus far, according to Steve Russell, and it is early yet for signups.

UCONN's Loss?

I am not talking about March Madness, I am talking about bowling and UConn's trip to the 2009 International Bowl. While UConn received $1.1 million from the Big East for participating in the game, almost the entire amount was spent including losing $258,000 on unused tickets. When all was said and done the school netted only $18,484. The question is whether that is enough of a return to spend so much money? The school could easily have lost that much and more. Almost $140,000 was spent just on travel costs associated with the band and cheerleaders.

At some point a business case needs to be made for such expenditures. Besides a small return, did the school gain enough value from the expense. many businesses can make a small profit, but if the investment does not help the company reach its goals then most companies would forgo the potential risk. The question I have is whether or not a college attending a minor bowl game is really pursuing its goals, or taking a huge risk for very little gain.
Gil-