Picture a soccer game in your mind. Visualizea field, goals and two teams of players. Then imagine each playerwearing a large plastic bubble.

It looks…well, it looks pretty much just like it sounds.

The game of “bubble soccer” is one of many new sports rangingfrom “foot golf” (played with a soccer ball and no clubs) to“bossaball” (a combination of volleyball and gymnastics) that takea creative twist on traditional games. In some cases, that twisttrends to the extreme: Tough Mudder, for instance, features amateurathletes contending not only with obstacles and lots of mud, butalso with electric cables that administer 10,000-volt shocks.

The emergence of increasingly creative sports creates a wholenew game for underwriters as well. “Because these 'extreme' sportsare so new, it's a little difficult getting a handle on theexposure,” says Brian Himmer, product manager in the underwritingdepartment at Philadelphia Insurance Cos.

Himmer hasn't seen a bubble soccer account cross his desk—yet.However, Philadelphia and many other insurers in a marketcharacterized by ever-growing capacity are willing to write a widearray of sports & recreation risks despite the inherentdifficulty of doing so.

“We will consider almost any sport—although we will review newtypes of activities very, very closely,” says Himmer. “We feel wehave the experience and expertise to assess that the [teams] haveproper controls in place.”

Concussion Impact

New types of sports aren't the only development challengingcarriers. In contact sports, one chief area of concern isconcussions. In October 2013, the NFL settled a $765 millionclass-action lawsuit brought by former players suffering a varietyof debilitating residual effects caused by head injuries.

Some suggest that increased awareness of the damage that can bedone to football-playing youths could factor in the drop-off inparticipation in Pop Warner, the nation's largest youth footballprogram—which saw a 9.5% decline between 2010 to 2012, the largesttwo-year drop in decades. That development doesn't surprise RobertJackson, who spent 11 years in the NFL before foundingCleveland-based insurance agency Jackson Dieken & Associateswith fellow NFL colleague Doug Dieken.

“Growing awareness of the risk related to concussions willchange sports and sports insurance forever,” says Jackson, theagency's principal. In addition to specializing in coverage foramateur sports teams, Jackson Dieken & Associates also insuresthe Cleveland Browns franchise.

“If you're a sponsor of a sports league, you're open toliability. With everybody knowing about concussions, you can't sayyou were unaware of the exposure, so from a liability standpointthat is a concern,” says Rudi Hoffman, the agency's marketingmanager.

John Sadler, president of Columbia, S.C.-basedbrokerage Sadler & Co., says litigation won't stop with theNFL's quiet settlement of a case with far-reaching legalimplications; precedence has now been established. “Plaintiffs'attorneys are undoubtedly eyeing brain injury as the nextclass-action bonanza, similar to asbestos or construction defect,and the funding source would be coverage under general liabilityand excess liability.”

Although significant concussion litigation has yet to impactamateur football and other sports, brokers report that in responseto concussion concerns, many insurers have been adding newexclusions to both CGL and professional liability forms.

“Most carriers are addressing the concussion or brain injuryrisk by either using a total brain injury exclusion, limiting theeach occurrence and aggregate limits for participant legalliability, or requiring more stringent risk management controls,”Sadler says.

Likewise, amateur sports teams are responding to the growingawareness around the risks of concussions.

“We're seeing positive steps being taken by national youthsports associations in football and hockey geared towardsprotecting young athletes,” says Lorena Hatfield, marketingresources manager at K&K Insurance Group Inc. “It's anencouraging trend that may help contain the risk for not onlyconcussions, but of a variety of injuries and allow young athletesto participate in healthy sports activities.”

Most team programs rely on the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention's “Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports” training,available on itswebsite, to help keep players safe. Encouraging awareness alsocan have coverage benefits: Philadelphia offers policyholders awarranty affording concussion coverage in conjunction withparticipation in a concussion-management training program.Additional programs also focus on training teams in newer,seven-step test methods when concussions are suspected.

“We've learned that the 'flashlight test' is not specific andexact enough,” says Jackson. “The focus is on training the trainersand medical people across the country to better assess and analyzeplayers, and we are helping our clients with that.”

There is also a growing movement to require baseline testing ofplayers as part of the standard medical exam required by sportsteams. “It shows us that teams are being proactive, rather thanjust sitting back,” Jackson adds. “That's important, because notbeing proactive makes them more vulnerable to claims.”

Beyond Concussions

Concussion claims aren't the only type ofbodily injury claims insurers face. The most frequent claims aretrips and falls—spectators falling off bleachers, players trippingin holes on the field and other more common mishaps, Himmer says.He adds that claim activity in the sports & rec space has beenrelatively steady over time: “Not much has changed over the past 20years, except perhaps for a greater willingness to sue.”

Sports insurers continue to expand their loss-control effortsboth to reduce claims and to distinguish their services in acompetitive market. The Hanover Insurance Group, for example,offers its Insurance Professional Development series—which includesa suite of courses on topics ranging from maintenance tomolestation.

“Premises injuries are where we continue to see claims, whetherit's slips and falls in the locker room, tripping over equipment onthe floor, or other areas where proactive maintenance programs canhave a huge impact,” says Scott Grieco, president, middle market atThe Hanover.

Waivers also are an essential risk management tool for teams.“Having proper waivers is a big plus when we underwrite a risk,”Himmer notes. Last year, Philadelphia introduced its Waiver Saverprogram to provide health & fitness club and amateur-sportsinsureds with waiver templates and legal resources to protect theirorganizations.

Strong, Competitive Market

With stable claim activity and ample capacity, the marketremains competitive—and capacity in the marketplace is strong. “Inrecent years, the marketplace has been flooded with new programsand carriers entering the sports & recreation niche,” Sadlersays. “There has never been more competition or more marketoptions.”

Although several traditional youth sports—including football,soccer, basketball and baseball—have seen participation declines inrecent years, the sports & rec market overall continues toexpand. “This business exists everywhere. Every agent that'slocated from small towns to big cities can find groups and clubs inboth youth and adult leagues, with account sizes that range fromminimum premium all the way through six figures,” Grieco says.

In addition to new sports, new types of fitness facilitiespresent opportunity for agents, including the growing popularity of24-hour gyms and specialized facilities that reflect the waytoday's weekend warriors want to work out.

These new, smaller gyms combine group workouts with personaltraining and focus on high intensity, short duration training,Himmer says.

Younger producers, who are more likely to use those facilities,can help develop that specialization. “The universe of prospects islarge, and the subject matter is very interesting for them,”Hatfield says.

K&K offers e-commerce websites to help agents seizeopportunity in several specialty areas, including martial arts,gymnastic clubs and sports clinics. The most recent addition,introduced in March, is a site for outfitters and guides. K&Kis developing a site for coverage of walks or runs of fewer than 16miles.

Sadler & Co. offers an automated solution through whichagents can access the company's team, league and sports-clinicprograms and get a quote, pay, bind and print proof of coveragedocuments, certificates for field owners and claim forms in lessthan 15 minutes.

Account rounding is key. “On these smaller accounts, it'scritical to be able to place all the coverages including generalliability, accident, D&O, crime and equipment with a singlesource in the same transaction,” says Sadler.

“Even though we are in somewhat of a 'shakedown mode' aroundconcussions, there will continue to be opportunities in themarketplace for agents,” adds Jackson. “Sports will always be a bigpart of our society.”