Basketball remains a steady and reliable player in the team sports game. By Judy Leand
TEAM BASKETBALL
SLAM
DUNK
24 • Team Insight ~ January/February 2023 teaminsightmag.com
W
hen team dealers look at the
football market, they see the ex-
citement of Patrick Mahomes
coupled with the strength of J.J. Watt. In base-
ball, images of Aaron Judge's power or Justin
Verlander's continued excellence hit home.
For soccer, it's all about Messi.
But when it comes to youth basketball,
the image is more about the reliability and
steadiness of a Larry Bird, with flashes of Steph
Curry's brilliance.
And for team dealers involved in the bas-
ketball category, that's a good thing because
in these uncertain sports times, steady and
reliable are more than welcome — and it pretty
accurately defines the state of the youth and
high school hoops game as the 2023 season
winds down.
"Basketball, due to its low cost of entry and
the ability to play it recreationally, is the most
popular team sports activity among the four
key age groups — 6-to-17, 18-to-24, 25-to-44
and even 45-plus-year-olds," according to SFIA's
recently released 2022 U.S. Trends in Team
Sports Report. e research found that most
basketball participants played recreationally in
2021 and more than half played competitively.
Basketball was the top casual and core team
sport among almost all age segments. But even
among 18-to 24-year-olds, where it ranked
