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Sport holds its own in 2006 participation
By Mark Miller // USA Bowling // May 14, 2007
The number of people who went bowling at least once in 2006 increased while participation at least twice last year dropped very slightly according to the results of two annual surveys.
The Simmons Market Research Bureau's National Consumer Study showed there to be 66,279,000 people age 6 and older who bowled in 2006. That's up 3.4 percent from the 64,048,000 in 2005.
The National Sporting Goods Association's annual Sports Participation survey found that 44.8 million people age 7 and older bowled more than once last year. That's down only 1.3 percent from the all-time record 45.3 million of 2005. The 44.8 million ties with 1997 for the second highest total since NSGA began charting sports in 1984. In the five-year period beginning in 2001, bowling participation rose 6.9 percent.
Bowling remained the No. 5 most popular sport in the latest NSGA survey. Exercise walking, which led for the 17th straight year, had 87.5 million participants. Swimming was second at 56.6 million, exercising with equipment was third with 52.4 million and vacation/overnite camping was fourth with 48.6 million.
The NSGA survey included 41 sports, only 10 of which had increased participation. Cross country had the biggest increase at 36.7 percent while ice hockey had the biggest drop of 20.8 percent.
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