Attending and Participating in Competitions
We asked our community if they attend or participate in competitions, tournaments or events (“competitions”) for youth or adults. These could range from youth sports like soccer or martial arts, to a band festival, to participating in or attending an adult basketball competition, track meet, or even a 5k or marathon.
For those who do attend or participate in competitions, they are:
- Supporting or transporting youth (74%)
- Attending adult competitions (74%)
- Participating in adult competitions (27%)
Takeaway: Seating and parking for spectators is important for designing competition venues.
Most respondents are fine with a limited amount of travel for competitions (66%), but they would prefer to stay locally (68%).
Timing
While nearly all respondents participate in or attend competitions in the fall (92%) and spring (92%), a substantial percentage participate or attend in winter (78%) and summer (72%). Frequency of participation is evenly distributed among participants, from a few times a month to about once a year.
Takeaway: This community’s need for sports venues is substantial year-round.
Travel
When people travel, they stay overnight when the circumstances require it.
Those who travel, go:
- About 50 miles or less (53%)
- 50 – 100 miles (45%)
- 100 – 200 miles (56%)
- 200 – 500 miles (16%)
- Over 500 miles (6%)
When they travel, they typically spend:
- $0 – $99 (13%)
- $100 – $249 (34%)
- $250 – $499 (35%)
- $500 – $999 (12%)
- $1,000+ (6%)
The top 3 factors that influence their decision to stay overnight or not are:
- Length or timing of competition (71%)
- Distance (71%)
- Cost of lodging or accommodations (59%)
Interest in more indoor competition space
Interest in additional indoor competition space is strong; it is very high for those who support youth in sports that compete indoors and for which costs are substantial.
Most people have some level of interest in developing more indoor competition space in our area:
- Extremely interested (33%)
- Very interested (24%)
- Somewhat interested (32%)
- Not so interested (7%)
- Not at all interested (5%)
The likelihood of being extremely interested in developing more indoor competition space is statistically significant for those who:
- Participate in competitions a few times a month,
- Typically travel 100 – 200 miles for competitions,
- Support or transport youth to basketball, track and volleyball competitions,
- Support or transport youth and typically spend between $250 and $499 per trip.
Takeaway: Those whose time and pocketbooks would most obviously benefit from more local indoor competition space are most likely to advocate for it, while those who don’t see a direct benefit from indoor competition space may increase their support through greater awareness of how the larger community will benefit.
This survey was conducted June 2023, with 782 respondents. Responses were solicited from people who indicated an interest in participating in Turell Group’s community research, and people who were encouraged to take the survey by Travel Lane County and KidSports, with an incentive of a $1 donation per survey completed given to KidSports.
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