The first ten years are critical to building lifelong sports fandom for kids.
Sports Poll™ has found that more than 70% of avid sports fans first became interested in sports by age 10. In addition to covering the U.S. population 12 and older on Sports Poll™, Sports Poll™ Kids was created to track the sports interests of American kids ages 8-11. One of the core questions asks kids how much they know about the rules for different sports.
Knowledge varies by sport, but many kids have limited knowledge of even the most popular sports today.
Kids know the most about basketball, but only half of kids say they understand all, almost all, or most of the rules. That’s the high bar. Knowledge is more limited for other sports, including individual sports (like golf and tennis) and “traditional” team sports like baseball and soccer.
How can kids become more knowledgeable?
Play has a major impact. It doesn’t need to be on a travel team or even playing competitively. Recreational participation alone can help kids learn the rules. When kids don’t participate in the sport, sports video games can serve as a proxy.
Watching games on TV can have a positive impact, especially if someone explains what is happening to a new fan. A standard broadcast can be over their heads. To help with this, broadcasters are increasingly creating altcasts that make the games more fun and explain the basics for kids. Recent kid-focused altcasts have included Monsters Funday Football (NFL), Dunk the Halls with Disney characters (NBA), and the NHL Big City Greens Classic. Technology should make it easier to expand altcasts or incorporate kid-focused elements in even more games in the future.
As competition for kids’ free time continues to grow, we shouldn’t take it for granted that kids will naturally learn the basics in these early years and become fans just because previous generations did in the past.
For more information on Sports Poll Kids™ and Sports Poll™, reach out to us.
Sports Poll Kids™ by SSRS is conducted quarterly and includes a nationally representative sample of 1,200 American kids ages 8-11 each year.
