How has COVID-19 affected Fall Early Start Leagues in Seattle?

In my area, Seattle, we have 2021 early start leagues beginning in a couple weeks, specifically 18 & Over Mixed and 55 & Over Adult.  These have been routinely played in this same slot for a number of years, which means we can look at trends on participation and compare to this year to see how things may be changing.

The obvious reason things may change is COVID-19, and I just wrote about some new scoring rules we will be using in the Pacific Northwest section because of it, and it is natural to look at these trends and see if there is an impact due to the pandemic and player's behavior or willingness to play.

First as a baseline, I looked at the 2017 through 2020 league years for 18 & Over Mixed and here are the number of teams and unique players signed up:

• 2017 - 172 / 2,265
• 2018 - 180 / 2,311
• 2019 - 179 / 2,327
• 2020 - 173 / 2,249

While there is some variation, the numbers are pretty consistent so let's take the average of 176 teams and 2,288 players as representative.

For this Fall's 2021 league season, all the teams are signed up and there are just 141, down 20% from the average of the last 4 seasons.  The number of players is just 1,253 but the season hasn't started yet and more players will sign up, so it is a little preliminary to compare that number.

I also looked at the 55 & Over Adult league.  Here are the historical stats:

• 2017 - 84 / 1,034
• 2018 - 92 / 1,126
• 2019 - 105 / 1,249
• 2020 - 114 / 1,383

There is some clear growth here, so for comparison I'll use the most recent stats from 2020.  But arguably it was on track to be north of 120 teams.

For this Fall's 2021 league season, the 55 & Over Adult has just 87 teams, down 24% from 2020 but again, perhaps down more from where it might have been.

These sort of changes are rarely due to a single reason, but I think we can point to COVID-19 as the reason this year.  Whether players are concerned about the risks of playing and interacting with others outside their family/personal circle, or their personal situation has changed to not allow playing, there is clearly a decline in those electing to participate in these leagues this Fall.

Whether you are in Seattle and part of the above stats, or playing (or not) elsewhere, why are you planning to play (or not) this Fall and into 2021?

And if there are other areas with early start leagues you'd like me to look at, leave a comment here or on Facebook.