Hoops

Aussie basketball popularity, 2016 v early 90's?

Australian Bureau of Statistics

4177.0 - Participation in Sport and Physical Activities, Australia, 1995-96

Basketball - estimate was 240,200 participants aged 15 and over, nationally. Participation rate of 4.6% of the population aged 15+. Given the overall participation rate for all sports was 30.7%, that meant about 1 in 7 people playing organised sport were playing basketball, for 15+ population.


Latest edition of the same publication is 4177.0 - Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation, Australia, 2013-14

Basketball - estimate was 406,100 participants aged 15 and over, nationally. Participation rate was 2.2% of teh population aged 15+. Given the overall participation rate for all sports was 60.2%, that meant about 1 in 25 people playing organised sport were playing basketball, for 15+ population.

So numbers have gone up but basically in line with population growth, while broader participation in sport has increased more rapidly. That increased general participation is across all age groups but most marked in 45+ age groups, where participation has risen 2.5 times what it was in 1995-96.

The 1995-96 survey may be a bit late for the start of the Jordan effect referred to by the OP, however another ABS publication (1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 1992) states:

"A Sports Participation Survey was conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics throughout Victoria in October, 1989. ...
The survey collected a range of information from persons in Victoria aged 15 years and over and covered the twelve month period ending October, 1989.
During this twelve month period a total of
1.378 million persons (41.7%) participated in
sport.

...main sports participated in were ... basketball (4.2%)..."

So this participation rate for basketball was consistent with the 1995-96 national survey, with about 1 in 10 people who played sport choosing to play basketball, for 15+.

So basketball's popularity among those choosing to play sport has declined over the last 20 years, based on these numbers, among people aged 15+. Basketball participation among kids aged less than 15 I believe has always been pretty high but I haven't tried to find any stats on what has happened over the last 20 years for that age group.

FWIW, I was involved in indoor recreation centres in the 1990s and there was a general decrease in indoor court sport participation across SA, which was echoed in ABS stats across Australia at the time. I had decreasing involvement through the 2000s in a couple of rec centres and that trend continued in them, largely losing numbers to the indoor exercise (gym) market. I don't know if that's changed in the last 10 years.

Well, if you look at popularity in terms of people playing the game, it is many many times bigger today.

In terms of its prominence in the media it was much more popular in the early 90s.

If you look at the amount of people that go to pro games, while the gap is closing it was still a bit more popular in the early 90s.

Michael Jordan drinks Sprite? I thought only Grant Hill drank Sprite?

True that, plus AFL really stepped up their game to combat the glory days NBL, while NBL didn't do sh#t.

Best way of looking at it would be that basketball would have lesser share of the market in Australia then it once did in the 90s.

Basketball participation is high regardless, but attention to NBL is probably down.

Accessibility has increased since the 90's for the NBA, now there's ESPN on Fox & NBA League Pass and there's plenty of social media, online news and clips. It is probably consumed at record levels, however so is - and far more so - AFL, NRL, Cricket, NFL etc.

Gary Wilkinson gets it:

Wilkinson has been a standout for the Breakers since signing with the club this season and was the driving force in New Zealand’s impressive 96-81 road victory over the Gold Coast Blaze on Saturday night at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.
The 204cm forward had a game-high 23 points and added seven rebounds as the Breakers improved to 4-0 in what has been New Zealand’s best-ever start to an NBL season. Wilkinson made 10-of-14 shots from the field, including connecting on 3-of-4 attempts from three-point range.

Others who were in the running for Player of the Week included Will Blalock (Townsville), Peter Crawford (Townsville), Ayinde Ubaka (Cairns), Ian Crosswhite (Cairns), Mark Worthington (Gold Coast), Thomas Abercrombie (New Zealand), Kevin Braswell (New Zealand), Luke Cooper (Sydney), TJ Campbell (Melbourne), Eric Devendorf (Melbourne) and Gary Ervin (Wollongong).