Senior Athletes Multiply With Longer Healthy Life but Perhaps Not in the Future

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) January 19, 2007 -- Life expectancy doubled and healthy senior years increased during the last century. These trends changed participation in sports and fitness activities and are likely to change them more in the future. Partiicpation by Americans over 45 grew in 34 sports and fitness activities in the last few years, even though total U.S. participation declined in 13.

Many professional athletes continue their careers after the traditional retirement age of 40, and many more people enjoy amateur sports and fitness activities in mid-life and senior years.

Why?

� People know that sports and fitness are ways to build the physical activity needed for good health into our increasingly sedentary lives.

� Greater opportunities exist to participate in senior sports leagues (Men�s Senior Baseball League/Men�s Adult Baseball League and The International Tennis Association Seniors Circuit), multi-sport festivals (World Senior Games and US National Senior Games), and events like marathons, walks and bicycle rides open to people of all ages (the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC, and The Seagull Century (a 100-mile bicycle ride on Maryland�s Eastern Shore)).

� Improved technology keeps people in the game longer by making play more enjoyable (tennis racquets with bigger sweet spots) and preventing injuries (bicycle helmets and hip and knee pads)

The report Global Aging and Sports: The Impact of Aging of the World�s Population on the World of Sports examines how increasingly healthy aging of the world�s population in most countries is affecting the world of sports. It is the second of a series of reports by The Consilience Group, LLC, on the future of fitness and sports commissioned by SBRnet, a Princeton, New Jersey, sports market research firm. SBRnet subscribers receive these reports at no additional charge. The public can purchase them by clicking on �Custom Reports for Non-SBRnet Subscribers� at http://www.sbrnet.com. The first report, Physical Activity Trends: Business and Policy Implications was published in 2005, and SBRnet has commissioned an update of it to be published in late 2007.

Is this trend a �pot of gold� for businesses that depend on people�s interest and participation in fitness and sports? �Not necessarily,� says The Consilience Group Chairman Ken Harris, a professional futurist. The report looks at 4 scenarios, Playing Field, Court and Health Club, Fresh Air and Sunshine, Sports Bar and Home Theater, Mall Walking, Minor League Baseball and Friday Night Lights covering a range of future possibilities in the extent and level of senior sports and fitness participation and then outlines implications and strategies for sports businesses.