The Expansion of Reduction in Sports

In the last few decades, we have seen a large increase in the popularity of sports that have been reduced to either a 3-on-3 format or reduced in physical scale to accommodate accessibility and enjoyment. Sports like 3-on-3 basketball, hockey, street soccer, and many others now have full leagues and tournaments that are run on a large scale, with 3-on-3 basketball even making its way into the Olympics. Other sports like pickleball have seen recent spikes in numbers of participants due to the sport being more friendly on aging or injured bodies. While a lot of these sports have a reduction in the number of players on the field or court/racket size, they seem to make up for the loss in scale with other factors that keep drawing people in.

 

Looking at 3-on-3 sports first; while the popularity we see in these sports today is a fairly recent affair, the growth is nothing short of impressive. 3-on-3 basketball, for instance, was only started at a professional level in 2007. FIBA (International Basketball Federation) was looking at experimenting with a 3-on-3 format for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. It was suggested to them as a way of increasing appeal in participation and viewership among younger demographics. With the sport’s introduction to the international stage in 2010, quickly it was labeled as “the hottest ticket in town”. The reputation for the sport became one that was fun to play, and maybe equally as fun to watch. In March 2011, FIBA began testing with more 3-on-3 tournaments to collect data on whether the sport would be successful or not, and in September of the same year, the first U18 3-on-3 World Cup for boys and girls was held in Italy. More recently, 3-on-3 basketball has even made its way into the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

 

While 3-on-3 basketball has pierced the Olympics, the popularity of the sport doesn’t end there. This is evident by tournaments like “Hoopfest” which is held in Spokane, WA every year. The tournament houses 250,000 players on 6,200 teams in late June and is touted as the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world! A key factor in this event’s success is that it’s not just a basketball tournament, but a full event with entertainment, food, and contests throughout the weekend. The additive entertainment seems to be a good move for a lot of sports as a similar practice was put in place for organizations like TopGolf, whose practices and success I have discussed at length in previous articles.

 

Adding to the entertainment value of sports is something that most big sports are constantly tangling with. Of course, as a Canadian, another 3-on-3 format that immediately comes to mind is the transition of the NHL overtime format from 4-on-4 to 3-on-3. The NHL and NHLPA felt that there were too many games ending in a shootout, and the data shows this to be the case with 56.8% of games requiring overtime, ending in a shootout through 10 seasons. This left the traditional overtime structure feeling redundant and boring. The table below is taken from nhl.com:

 

Season	Total ended in shootouts	Total ended in OT	Total past regulation	% of shootouts
2005-06	145	136	281	51.6
2006-07	164	117	281	58.4
2007-08	156	116	272	57.4
2008-09	159	123	282	56.4
2009-10	184	117	301	61.1
2010-11	149	148	297	50.2
2011-12	181	119	300	60.3
2012-13	97	65	162	59.9
2013-14	178	129	307	58.0
2014-15	170	136	306	55.6
Totals	1,583	1,206	2,789	56.8

 

Their solution was to move overtime to 3-on-3 in 2015. The NHL committee felt this was a way to add more excitement to overtime, as it would increase the odds of goals being scored by expanding the room players have to move with the puck and making it more punishing if mistakes were made. Within the first third of the season, the numbers started to back this solution up in a staggering way; 33 of 44 games that required overtime were decided in overtime. This was a jump of 43.2% to 75% but accounting for the drastic change in strategy this brought for teams, it makes sense that more goals would be scored in overtime early in the implementation of this rule. However, the 2015-16 season ended with 61.1% of overtime periods decided in overtime, which was an immediate and positive change in favor of the new 3-on-3 format. The next few years kept these numbers up as the ’16-’17 and ’17-’18 seasons both resulted in 66.6% of overtime periods ending before the buzzer. The league and spectators both enjoyed the change to the format, and the rule persists today.

 

Another sport that has garnered a large influx of players over the last few years is the unbefittingly named pickleball.  Even on the official USA Pickleball Association website, there are two different possible stories for the naming of the sport, with my preference being the sport was named after the creator’s dog “Pickles”. While the origin of the name may be debated, the popularity of the sport is not. Designed as a substitute for those who were having physical trouble playing tennis and other racket sports, there is now a large chunk of the active older population that has gravitated towards this sport. On a personal level, I have seen many sports complexes all over Calgary add pickleball leagues, to the point where a lot of places now have pickleball daily. Since my experience and knowledge on the sport, in general, is somewhat lacking, I reached out to a good friend of mine; Gerry Preston, who not only is a wonderful financial advisor, but also an avid pickleball player. I asked him a few questions to gain a better understanding of the appeal of the sport, trying to gain insight from someone on the inside:

 

“What first brought you to pickleball?”

“Well I was a badminton player for many years, but I ended up wrecking my shoulder a couple years back and couldn’t play anymore. I tried drop-in pickleball and really enjoyed it, so I kept going back.”

 

“How often do you play?”

“Well currently not very often (due to Covid-19), and I actually pulled a stomach muscle a little while ago playing so I had to cut down a bit, but I was playing about 5 nights a week.”

 

“Why do you think pickleball has garnered so much popularity over other sports designed for the older crowd?”

“I think accessibility is a big part of it; you know I just go to drop-in times at different places. There are tons of gyms and other places that have drop in for five bucks or less, so I just go and pay the small fee and play. You know there are plenty of locations that have pickleball now, a lot of the places you guys (his son and I) used to play volleyball now have pickleball, like the Volleydome”.

 

“Does it take a toll on the body?”

“Well like I said I pulled a stomach muscle playing, but you know you gotta be careful in any sport. It’s definitely easier on my body than badminton.”

 

“Do you see many/any younger players joining the game?”

“Yea there are more thirty-year-olds that are joining these leagues. The game is getting pretty competitive, there’s a ranking system now if you join some of the more serious leagues in town. Some of the clubs and leagues in the city, you can only join if you have a certain ranking.”

 

“Are there any barriers you see to the game? Or anything you would change about it?”

“Mmm no not really, I think it’s in a pretty good spot. It’s cheap! We have our own net now too, so we can just go to the tennis court and play. (How much was the net?) Oh, it was something like two hundred bucks, which is, you know, pretty reasonable. It’s a professional-grade, good quality net, so for two hundred dollars, it’s not that bad.”

 

“Volleyball started as a substitute for people who couldn’t physically play basketball anymore, do you think pickleball has similar potential growth?”

“Oh, for sure. I could see pickleball getting as big as volleyball. More and more people are joining the sport all the time and it’s becoming more competitive, so I don’t see why not.”

 

It’s interesting to see the changes in different sports in order to make them more accommodating or entertaining. The common goal is obviously bringing more people to the activity, whether it be for participation or viewership. I have fond memories of playing 3-on-3 basketball videogames with my friends when I was a kid, and it always made me want to grab my two best friends to go challenge another three to a game. The juxtaposition of reducing either physical space or the number of players on the court resulting in a rise in popularity is quite poignant. With the recent rise in popularity of these sports and formats, it will be riveting to watch the continued growth of sports like pickleball and 3-on-3 basketball over the next decade. Maybe once 2030 rolls around I will have to revisit the topic and let people know that basketball started as a 5-on-5 sport.

 

Article written by my business associate – Justin Lukacs