The spectating rates had been increasing and decreasing slightly until 2018, but after 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began, it has decreased significantly.
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The spectating rates had been increasing and decreasing slightly until 2018, but after 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began, it has decreased significantly.
According to “The 2022 SSF National Sports-Life Survey”, 19.3% of adults had attended a sport event at gymnasiums/arenas or stadium as a spectator in the previous year (Figure 2-5). When compared with previous surveys, the rate of sport spectating increased from 31.7% in 2012 to 32.9% in 2016, the highest rate in the past decade, but then continued to decline, reaching 19.3% in 2022, the lowest rate in the past decade. Although there are limitations for precise comparisons of the spectating rates because of the change in the survey population from 20 and over to 18 and over since 2016, the rate had been increasing and decreasing slightly until 2018, but after 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began, it has decreased significantly.
By gender, the spectating rate for men (23.2%) was 7.8 percentage points higher than the rate for women (15.4%) (Figure 2-6). By age, 30.7% of the 18-19 age group and 23.9% of the 40-49 age group were higher than other age groups. On the other hand, the rate among the elderly was relatively low, at 16.0% for the 60-69 age group and 14.6% for the 70 and over age group.
Regarding the results by types of sport, “Professional Baseball (NPB)” had the highest spectating rate at 8.7%, followed by “Professional football (J.LEAGUE)” at 3.0%, “High school baseball” at 2.8%, “Football (high school, university, JFL, WE LEAGUE, etc.)” at 1.3% and “Professional basketball (B.LEAGUE)” at 1.0% (Table 2-11). In addition, “Martial arts (boxing, mixed martial arts, etc.)” has newly risen to the top ten at 0.8%.
