Welcome to The Signal, Box Score's Wednesday newsletter. This week, we're looking at how sports events and recreational leagues are becoming popular places for singles to meet.
The dating recession that started during the pandemic is still with us, and Stanford professor Michael J. Rosenfeld believes that this recession is “an important but understudied contributor to what the former U.S. Surgeon General described as the ‘epidemic of loneliness and isolation’ in the US.”
According to survey by the Wheatley Institute at BYU of 5,275 unmarried young adults in the US (ages 22–35), only about one in three young adults (30%) are actively dating. However, 51% of young people in the survey said they are interested in starting a relationship.
What’s holding them back? Part of the problem is a lack of dating confidence. Only one in three young men and one in five women felt confident in their ability to approach someone that they had a romantic interest in. Contrary to the idea of hookup culture, the survey also found that both women and men are looking for a dating culture that’s focused on forming serious relationships and creating emotional connections.
At the same time, dating apps are on the decline and meeting in real life is making a comeback. According to a 2026 Harris Poll, 72% of US adults (all ages) say apps have made dating feel more transactional than romantic, while 57% are meeting dating partners out in the world and away from their screens. And 80% say meeting someone in real life is “cute” or “cool.”
This desire for a more relaxed setting for conversation and an openness to forge deeper relationships is creating opportunities for sports teams, fan clubs and recreational leagues to create spaces for singles to mix in a fun and authentic environment without pressure.
A recent article in Front Office Sports took a look at some of the innovative and unexpected ways that sports teams are appealing to singles looking to meet people:
• The Chicago Cubs created a rom-com TikTok series about a couple that meets at a Cubs game called “Nine Innings to Love” after seeing that the team’s women followers were often also followers of BookTok and RomanceTok. (Filmed on location at Wrigley, the video series is charming and includes an intro sequence that imagines what a romance novel narrated by Harry Caray might sound like.)
• The Arizona Cardinals partnered with Hooked IRL, a dating app that only works when people are attending the same in-person event, for “Hooked Day.” Fans who bought tickets to the season opener through the app could connect with other single fans, and the Cardinals created a special meet-up area for in-person connections.
• The New York Mets partnered with a New York events company to create “Singles Night Out,” which featured a private pregame party and multiple meetup areas at Citi Field on Aug. 27, and despite thunderstorms, 1,300 single fans showed up.
• The Atlanta Hawks will host Single AF Night at their Jan. 7, 2027, game against the Indiana Pacers following the success of the Hawks’ Single AF pregame mixer last season.
The spirited response that sports teams are seeing to singles events makes sense because they are offering both a fun night out and the opportunity to make a connection with someone who already shares an interest or even a passion. In the Harris Poll, 75% of singles (and 80% of single women) agreed with this statement: “I want more curated ways to meet compatible people than dating apps can offer.”
The same dynamic is playing out in recreational sports leagues. In 2025, 19% of adults in the US played team sports, up from 11% in 2020, according to CivicScience. Interest in joining leagues is growing, too, with 47% of Gen Z and 31% of Millennials expressing interest in joining a league.
People join these leagues to make new friends, of course, but meeting potential romantic partners is a key driver, too. Denver’s popular sports league Volo is the city’s “largest singles meat market,” according to Sara Rosenthal of Westword, a Denver alt-weekly.
“The structure of the leagues—weekly games, post-match drinking rituals, team group chats, etc.—provides a perfect environment for relationships to materialize,” Rosenthal writes. “Regular face time, shared friends and the comfort of sweat and silliness help cut through any awkwardness.”
Sports has always been a melting pot and a community builder. Can sports be our new matchmaker, too? Hey, it worked for Travis and Taylor. 💘
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