The purpose of this study was to investigate predictors of participation in recreational activities among academic staff in public universities in Calabar Education Zone. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of this study consisted of 4260 academic staff in the University of Calabar and the University of Cross River State, Calabar campus. Sampling was done in multi-stages with 361 respondents as the sample. The instrument for data collection was the Predictors of Participation in Recreation Activities Questionnaire (PPRAQ) developed on a four-point rating scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree(A), Disagree(D) and Strongly Disagree (SD) and was face and content validated by three experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined through Cronbach’s Alphare liability estimates, which yielded coefficients of 0.712 and 0.748. Simple linear regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis at .05 level of significance. The result of the analysis of data and testing of hypotheses in the study showed that there was a significant prediction of workload, personal preference individual participation in recreational activities among academic staff in public Universities. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that academic staff in public Universities should be sensitized by relevant authorities on the need to reduce their work load to increase their participation in recreational activities.