Market
The U.S. sports products industry is nearly $70 billion in size (wholesale). According to SGMA International’s Recreation Market Report, manufacturers’ sales of sporting goods equipment, sports apparel, athletic footwear, and recreational transport items in the United States totaled $68.6 billion in 2003 — a 0.5 percent increase over 2002.
Athletic footwear sales rose 4.2 percent in 2003. Total sales were $9.73 billion, compared with $9.34 billion in 2002. Three athletic footwear categories exceeded the billion-dollar mark: running/jogging ($2.77 billion); basketball ($2.07 billion); and cross-training/fitness ($1.06 billion). The growth categories in athletic footwear were low performance (up 19.6 percent); tennis (up 16.9 percent); aerobic (up 11.1 percent); basketball (up 6.2 percent); and running (up 2.0 percent).
Sports apparel sales fell 2.5 percent in 2003. Despite the slight drop, it is still the largest segment of the sports and recreation industry, with sales of $22.8 billion.*
