Snowboarding Participation Up Big
Two different surveys show grow in the market.

5/7/99
John Stouffer

The sport of snowboarding has posted incredible gains in consumer growth again this year. Two different reports have recently been released showing the snow sport up between ten and 30 percent‹depending on which report you want to quote.

The American Sports Data report says the total participation at 5.4-million snowboarders, with a growth rate of 10.5 percent from last year. Alpine skiing was down almost seven percent to about fourteen-million participants, according to the report.

While the ASD report has a bigger number of total participants, a similar report by the National Sporting Goods Association has a much bigger growth rate for snowboarding last year. The NSGA survey showed total snowboarding participants up 29.1 percent over last year, bringing the total number of snowboarders to 3.6-million in the United States. Alpine skiing was down 13 percent to 7.7-million in the NSGA report.

Which one is right? Good question. Both utilize different methodologies and come out with different numbers. However, as long as both show the continued growth of snowboarding, it¹s pretty safe to assume that the sport is in good shape right now.

Interestingly enough, last year the ASD report showed snowboarding up 33 percent, while the NSGA reported a nineteen decrease in the total number of snowboarders. Many industry participants were in disbelief over the NSGA numbers because other economic indicators such as equipment sales and snowboarder resort visits were growing strongly, pointing to overall participation growth as well.

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