How Do Major Sporting Events Influence Youth Interest?

When major sporting events, from the Super Bowl to the Olympics, are on, the nation stops to tune in. These iconic moments serve as inspiration for plenty of young people to try their hand, or foot, at a new sport. But just how impactful are these major sporting events on youth interest in sport? 

At WSN, we’ve looked at some of the USA’s most popular, or fastest emerging, sports to show how interest in them has changed from 2022 to 2026. All the sports we tracked saw a spike in search volume around major events. 

Here’s what we learned: 

• In all sports, major events coincided with a sizable increase in searches for associated youth clubs or academies. 

• High spikes in interest, like the 100% spike in breakdancing during the Olympics, don’t always translate into long-term interest. 

• Sports with popular US leagues, like the NBA, MLB, or NFL, experience peaks during the key events of the seasons. 

• In sports where the US completely dominates, like basketball, there’s less of a boost from the Olympics, compared to the more competitive domestic league. 

• For lesser-known sports, like climbing or skateboarding, the fame of the Olympics is essential to driving youth interest.

How Did We Calculate Youth Interest? 

To calculate youth interest, we used Google Trends data and searched for youth ‘academies’ or ‘clubs’ associated with each sport. The data is presented out of 100% with 100% being equal to the highest volumes of searches. So, if a term is at 50%, it’s being searched half as much as it is when it’s at 100%. Therefore, when a term is at 0% it’s not that nobody is searching for it, it’s just that it’s at a 100% lower volume than when it’s at its peak.  

We tracked how the trend data changed over the last four years and then compared that to timings of major events, such as the Olympics or NBA season, in that sport. This comparison allowed us to determine whether these major sporting events had caused increases in searches. As well as that, we also looked at how the average search rate between 2022 and 2026 compared to the five years previous, so 2016 to 2022.

It’s important to note that the percentages equate to different things for each sport, so they’re not comparable; a 10% increase in search volume for basketball might mean an extra 20,000 for ‘basketball academies,’ whereas in climbing that might equal 2,000 additional searches. Secondly, correlation doesn’t mean causation. Although each sport shows an increase in searches for youth clubs around the time of major events like the Olympics, we can’t be certain that’s the only reason. School terms finish between May and June, so the spikes we see in June are likely partially due to parents searching for activities for their children. However, as peaks in interest consistently align with major competitions, as you’ll see further on, we can infer that they have at least some part to play in boosting interest.

NBA Drives Youth Interest in Basketball

For basketball, we looked at the frequency of the search term ‘Basketball Academies’ over the past four years. There was a 200% increase in the use of the term from the five years prior to 2022, in line with the growth of the NBA during that time. 

Here’s how the term tracked in each quarter from 2022 to 2026:

170 Million NBA Viewers Support Academies

Searches for basketball academies have periodic spikes around the time of the NBA regular season, which takes place between October and April. We can see this clearly in 2022, where searches go from 0% in September to 19% in December and then fall to 0% in June 2023 when the season finishes. 

The remaining peaks we can see correlate with other important dates in the basketball calendar. There are spikes in June in both 2025 and 2026 which could be connected to the start of the NBA draft, and the biggest peak of 100% in March is likely due to March Madness. The biggest tournament in the men’s NCAA Division I, it’s the pinnacle of college basketball and averaged 10.3 million viewers for the 2026 tournament. High viewership for March Madness often correlates to boosts in searches for ‘basketball academies’ suggesting a greater youth interest during these times. 

No Boost From the Olympics

Although basketball features at the Olympics, and the US are the defending champions in both the women’s and men’s, there’s no notable spike in searches around the 2024 competition. Searches for basketball academies peaked at 15% in 2024, whereas there was a high of 19% in 2022, 21% in 2025 and 100% in 2026. 

For fans of the NBA, the Olympics might not possess the same level of competition found in basketball’s biggest league. The US is utterly dominant, having won 17 out of the 20 men’s Olympic basketball tournaments and 10 of the 12 women’s. While watching your home team crush the competition might appeal to some fans, others may be looking for more of a contest like that found in the NBA. 

On top of that, some of the major names in basketball will skip the Olympics due to concerns over injury or simply needing to rest after the regular season. Both Stephen Curry and LeBron James have turned down Olympic invites for the US team, instead opting to concentrate on the league. For many young fans, these names are a sizable draw for the NBA, and the Olympic squads don’t always have the same star quality. 

Interest in Climbing Rised by 60%

Climbing made its debut in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and its inclusion was so popular that it was expanded to two different competitions in the 2024 games. Now, athletes compete for a set of medals in speed and another in boulder and lead combined. Its inclusion in the Olympics has helped give searches for ‘Climbing Clubs’ a 60% boost from the five years prior to 2022. 

Take a look at how the term tracked between 2022 and 2026:

Hike to 31% During Olympics

The climbing events at the 2024 Olympics took place in early August, after which we can see searches for ‘Climbing Clubs’ began to rise. There was a boost immediately after with searches hitting 31% in September 2024 and numbers steadily increasing since the tail end of that year. 

Both 2025 and 2026 are real breakout years for the sport, with the highest peak coming in June 2026 with a 71% search rate. While that could be due to school terms ending, it also aligns with another of climbing’s biggest events, the World Climbing Series, which started in May this year and finishes in October. Climbing’s yearly pinnacle was previously known as the Climbing World Cup and took place between April and October. The new condensed version may have helped to boost interest in the sport and drive searches for climbing clubs. 

Baseball Boosted by 60% in Line with MLB

Baseball is one of the nation’s most popular sports, with 16.7 million playing the sport in some form as of 2024. It’s equally popular in schools, where it remains one of the most played sports with children. While that gives baseball a solid base, the sport also experiences peaks in interest around its biggest competitions and searches for baseball academies have increased 60% since 2022. 

Here’s how the frequency of searches for ‘Baseball Academies’ varies between 2022 and 2026:

The MLB season takes place between February and November each year, which coincides with the boost in searches for baseball academies around March. While numbers remain pretty solid during the season, they drop off slightly towards the end of the year. 

As the MLB finals are held in October, you might expect searches to remain solid into fall, but that isn’t the case for all the data. That could be because interest for some fans tails off if their team doesn’t make the playoffs, or indicate that interest in baseball academies isn’t as impacted by the MLB as other factors like school terms or weather conditions. 

Extra Games Align with 91% Peak

Where we can see a boost in search volume is during the games played in addition to the MLB season. The World Baseball Classic tournament, for example, aligns with the sport’s 91% peak seen in March 2026. The international competition saw 20 baseball teams, including the US, Japan, and winners Venezuela, and correlates with a notable hike in interest in the sport. A similar boost can be seen when it was last held in March 2023, with searches reaching 35%. 

The searches remain at that 91% peak into June, which could be due to the additional games like the Home Run Derby. Held in July, the special event sees some of the league’s best batters try to hit as many homers as possible. July also features the All-Star Game, where the best players from the American League and National League face each other. 

The 2026 All-Star game was held on the 14th of July and saw the American League beat the National League 4-0, making it the first shutout since 2013. It’s likely the expectation of this exciting game, which featured some of the sport’s biggest names like Bellinger, Judge, and Ohtani, influenced the increase in searches for baseball academies during June. 

Skateboarding Ramps Up to 100% During Olympics

Skateboarding is an increasingly popular sport here in the US; in 2025 alone there were 9.9 million participants. It first appeared in the Olympics in 2020 and reappeared again in the 2024 Olympics in July and August in Paris. 

Here’s how the searches for ‘Skateboarding Clubs’ changed between 2022 and 2026:

Major Events Correlate with Major Spikes

Skateboarding is one of the clearest examples where major events line up with spikes in youth interest. In July 2024, when skateboarding was on at the Olympics, searches for ‘Skateboarding Clubs’ shot up to 100%. 

The only other spike we see is in June 2026, where searches reach 37%, which aligns perfectly with the WST World Cup held in Rome in June 2026. Skateboarding’s biggest event, which is held annually, attracted over 30 million social media views in 2025. 

Although we see a spike around the World Cup in June of 2026, there’s no notable increase during the contest in other years. That could be down to this year’s tournament being more widely broadcast on major television networks, or indicate that it’s actually another factor which influences growth in searches for skateboarding clubs.

Breakdancing Peaks at 100% During Olympics

The biggest breakout sport of the 2024 Olympics was breakdancing, also known as breaking, with clips of the performances gaining millions of views on social media. The Australian dancer, Rachael Gunn (Raygun), went especially viral, gaining worldwide coverage and helping to gain interest for the sport. 

The boost from the 2024 Olympics can be seen in the search for ‘Breaking Clubs (Sports)’:

Olympics Doesn’t Mean Sustained Interest

We can see there’s a growth in interest in breaking clubs around the time of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the sport earned millions of new fans. Interest begins to start around March 2024, which could align with people researching the new sport featured in the Olympics. Searches peak at 100% in August 2024, when the breaking events are being contested at the Olympics. 

Despite a huge hike in interest during the tournament, it quickly wanes with search rates tracking at a consistent 4% by December 2024. While we see a massive increase in searches for breaking clubs during the Olympics, there’s no sustained interest after the games. 

NFL Helps Football Score 200% Growth

Football is the most popular sport in the US and the most played in schools throughout the country. Due to this popularity, the frequency of searches for ‘Football Academies’ remains consistently solid, but there has been a 200% increase in the frequency of searches for the term from the five years prior to 2022 to now. 

Here’s how the term has tracked between 2022 and 2026:

NFL Supports Consistent Youth Interest

The NFL season takes place from September to February each year which aligns with increases in searches for football academies. When the NFL is finished in March each year, there’s a dip in interest down to 8% or 9%. 

Youth interest in football climbs once again in June during the offseason, which could be due to school holidays or reflect the interest in the trades happening during this time. These deals get heavy coverage in the media, particularly when big names are involved, which could increase youth interest in the sport. 

Winter Olympics Helps Nets Ice Hockey 100% Peak

Ice hockey is another clear example of major events aligning with peaks in youth interest. The NHL season runs between October and April annually, giving the sport a solid baseline of search volume. However, there are still notable increases when ice hockey is featured in major events like the Winter Olympics. 

Here’s how the searches for ‘Ice Hockey Clubs’ have tracked between 2022 and 2026:

Youth Interest in Ice Hockey Grows

Since 2025 there’s been an increase in searches for ice hockey clubs with a spike of 34% in June 2025 and 100% in February 2026. The 2025 peak correlates with the 2025 IIHF World Championships, in which the USA won gold. The competition routinely attracts a cumulative audience of over 1.2 billion globally, which could explain the peak in youth interest in the sport. 

Similarly, ice hockey was one of the most popular events at the 2026 Winter Olympics. This additional interest in the sport aligns with the biggest peak in searches for ice hockey clubs which was 100% in February 2026. 

Major Sporting Events Peak Youth Interest 

We can see that not all major international competitions have an impact on search frequencies. In basketball, for example, the peaks around March align closely with March Madness, but there’s no notable increase in searches during the Olympics. In contrast, ice hockey sees peaks in searches for youth clubs aligned with major international events like the Winter Olympics and IIHF World Championships. 

In all sports we examined, major events, such as the Olympics and various World Cups, aligned with peaks in searches for associated youth clubs or academies. While we can’t conclude for certain that increases in search volume are due to major events, the fact they align with peaks in each sport, is a strong indication that they have at least some positive influence on youth interest.