Sports Team and League Insurance

If there's an injury at your sports club, a few different policies can provide coverage for medical bills and other related costs:

• General liability insurance covers medical costs for accidental bodily injuries, such as slips and falls and sports injuries at your club. It'll also cover legal costs if the injured person sues your business.
• Professional liability insurance is important for fitness instructors and coaches who might be blamed for injuries caused by professional negligence. That might include pushing a student too hard, inadequate supervision, or unsafe equipment. In this case, it would cover medical bills and legal fees.
• Workers' compensation insurance pays for medical treatment of employees who are injured on the job. It also provides disability benefits, which compensate them for part of their wages while they take time off to recover.

Insurance agencies can help you find policies for a wide range of other risks as well, from vandalism to data breaches and car accidents.

Yes, sports associations can buy policies that protect against losses due to theft and accidental property damage:

• Commercial property insurance covers your clubhouse and everything in it, like indoor courts, furniture, and computers. It'll help you recover from a fire, burglary, or storm.
• General liability insurance pays for accidents that harm team members and other third parties (non-employees). It'll cover your legal costs if someone sues over theft or property damage that happened at your club.
• Inland marine insurance provides reimbursement for sports equipment and other items that are stolen or damaged while in transit or stored off-site.

Online training classes offer their own unique risks, especially since you're not physically next to your players ensuring safe practices and correct form. This is why having the right insurance and best practices is important.

Depending on your location, your insurance plan or state might require extra steps from you. Some of these include:

• Providing liability waivers for in-person training, online training, or both, before team members can take part.
• Including disclaimers at the beginning of your pre-recorded videos or within social media and YouTube descriptions.
• Enforcing webcams during live sessions to adequately assess and guide players during a training.

When reviewing your coverage, it's best to customize your sports liability insurance to include any modalities you need, such as livestreaming, pre-recorded online content, and in-person practices. Some insurers might not offer coverage for high-risk gymnastics, such as tumbling, or activities that take place in a pool.

Owners of sports organizations should consider the following policies as part of a comprehensive risk management plan:

• Business personal property (BPP) coverage insures the items that belong to your team, such as bats, helmets, gloves, rackets, balls, and nets. If you don't need insurance for a building, you can add this coverage to your general liability policy as an endorsement.
• Equipment insurance is a type of inland marine insurance that covers business property in transit or stored off-site, such as gear that you bring to fitness centers and sports fields.
• Business income insurance, or business interruption coverage, covers lost profits and operating expenses if a fire or other covered property claim forces your organization to close temporarily.
• Crime insurance comes in a couple forms. You can add it as an endorsement to property insurance to protect your own business, or buy a fidelity bond that will reimburse your clients in the event of employee dishonesty.
• Commercial umbrella insurance boosts the coverage of your underlying policies, such as general liability, commercial auto, and employer's liability insurance, once the limit is reached on a liability claim.
• Directors and officers insurance (D&O) pays for legal defense costs if a member of your board of directors is sued for a decision they made on behalf of your club.
• Special event insurance provides liability coverage for sports events outside of your normal business operations, such as a fundraiser or a sports camp.
• Liquor liability insurance is essential for organizations that sell or serve alcohol. It'll cover legal expenses if a team member gets intoxicated at a sports arena's bar and goes on to injure someone or damage their property.