What to Look For in a Sports Insurance Policy

What to look for in a sports insurance policy is not the price or a webpage description. It is the exclusions and the limits, because that is where coverage quietly disappears. A complete list of coverages tells you what a policy is meant to do; the exclusions tell you what it will actually do when a claim arrives. By Sadler’s own analysis, over 90 percent of sports and recreation policies contain at least one fatal coverage flaw, and almost none of those flaws are visible on the headline.

I have spent more than 35 years reading these policies, and I read them the way an attorney reads a contract because I have a law degree. What follows is the short list I check on any sports policy, in the order I check it. This is part of our complete guide to what sports insurance covers; here we go deep on what to check before you sign.

Read the Exclusions Before the Coverage List

Most buyers read the declarations page, see the coverages they expected, and stop. That is the mistake. Two policies can list the same coverages and behave nothing alike, because one of them carries an exclusion that guts the coverage you most need. The exclusions and the limit structure are the policy. Everything else is the cover page.

A useful habit: for each coverage you are counting on, find the matching exclusion and the matching limit. Coverage that is there in name but capped too low, or hollowed out by an exclusion, is not coverage you can rely on when the claim is large. The rest of this checklist is the specific places I have watched that happen.

The Athletic Participant Exclusion

This is the first thing I check, and one of the most misunderstood clauses in sports insurance. The Athletic Participant Exclusion strips the organization’s liability coverage when a participant is injured and files a lawsuit against the organization and its insured persons, which on a sports policy is the exact claim you most need covered. When the exclusion is present and an injured player sues, the organization has no coverage for that claim.

It is uncommon today. My rough estimate is about 15 percent of competitor policies, though I will be honest that I do not know the exact number. Where it appears, it is fatal, because a lawsuit over a participant injury is one of the most likely serious claims a sports organization faces. The fix is to confirm the policy either carries no such exclusion or includes Participant Legal Liability coverage, which defeats it.

One honest caveat, because overclaiming here is how an agent gets himself in trouble. Most sports programs built for this market leave the exclusion out. Where a carrier requires it on a specific account, a responsible agent discloses that up front, in writing, rather than pretending no policy ever carries it.

Coverage That Clocks Out

The majority of policies respond only during scheduled games and practices. That sounds reasonable until you notice the two gaps it leaves.

The first is the around-the-clock premises exposure. If your organization owns its field or holds a long-term lease that makes it responsible for the premises, you have liability around the clock, not just during games, including attractive-nuisance claims when someone, often a child, is hurt trespassing after hours. A games-and-practices-only policy leaves that exposure open. I consider the lack of around-the-clock coverage one of the major coverage flaws for any organization that controls its own field.

The second is team activity away from the field: a swimming outing, a team dinner at a restaurant, a party at a coach’s house, a trip to watch a pro or college game. Those are organization activities, and an injury at one can come back on the organization, but a games-and-practices-only policy does not reach them. The gap is closed with a covered-activities provision that reaches competitions and non-sport team events. Confirm both, especially if you own your field.

Collapse and Catastrophic-Injury Exclusions

Two exclusions deserve a specific look because the claims behind them are so large.

Start with the bleacher-collapse or temporary-structure-collapse exclusion. Some General Liability policies carry a narrow bleacher-collapse exclusion, others a broader exclusion for the collapse of any temporary structure. Bleachers are often temporary builds brought in for championships and special events with bigger crowds, which is exactly when they fail. A verified bleacher-collapse claim settled for $362,825 and paid precisely because that policy carried no such exclusion. Check that yours does not.

Then there is the brain-injury exclusion or a concussion limit set too low. For contact sports especially, confirm there is no brain-injury exclusion and that any concussion sublimit is adequate. A verified concussion claim involving a lack of written medical clearance reached $5.8 million. These claims run high because the harm can unfold over years, so a sublimit that looked sufficient on paper behaves like a gap when the real claim arrives. Pair the coverage check with a written concussion identification, removal, treatment, and return-to-play protocol; all 50 states have a youth concussion law behind it.

Limits That Look Like Coverage but Behave Like Gaps

A limit set too low is its own kind of flaw, because it shows up on the declarations page and reads as coverage right up until the claim exceeds it. The clearest example is Sexual Abuse and Molestation coverage. Some policies carry it only as a token sublimit, far too small to absorb a real claim, and the organization is left personally exposed for the difference. The recommended target is $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate or higher when available, not a nominal sublimit buried in the policy. On most Sadler programs this coverage is available at those recommended limits.

Confirm two things wherever a limit matters: that the coverage is actually present, and that the limit is large enough to absorb the kind of claim the coverage exists for. Abuse and catastrophic-injury claims are exactly where an inadequate limit does the most damage.

The Coverages That Are Simply Missing

Not every flaw is an exclusion. Some are coverages a sports organization needs that the policy never included.

One of the most common is Non-Owned and Hired Auto coverage. Volunteers and staff drive their own cars, or rented vehicles, on the organization’s business: to the bank to make the deposit, to the sporting goods store, to drop off equipment, to and from games and practices. If one of them causes a serious accident on that business, the organization can be pulled into the claim, and without Non-Owned and Hired Auto there is nowhere for it to land. The name hides the exposure, which is why it is so often left off.

The other gap that does not look like one is no risk-management support. A carrier or program that hands you a policy and no help building your written plans, abuse prevention, concussion protocols, financial controls, has left you exposed on the half of protection that insurance does not cover. The written plans are what prevent claims and what make the ones that happen defensible, so treat the absence of any support there as a flaw worth weighing.

"The pattern I have seen for decades is that the policy fails on the worst day, not an ordinary one," says John M. Sadler, JD, CIC, President of Sadler Insurance. "Nobody discovers the Athletic Participant Exclusion or a token abuse limit when they are renewing. They discover it after a child is hurt and the lawsuit follows, when they open the policy expecting a defense and find an exclusion instead. Reading the exclusions before you buy is the cheapest protection there is."

A Sports Insurance Policy Checklist

Run any policy you are considering, or already carry, through these checks in order:

  1. Participant injury. Confirm the General Liability has no Athletic Participant Exclusion, or that Participant Legal Liability coverage is included to defeat it.
  2. Around-the-clock coverage. If you own or control your field, confirm liability applies around the clock, not just during games and practices.
  3. Covered activities. Confirm a covered-activities provision that extends to competitions and non-sport team events, including team outings and travel.
  4. Collapse exclusions. Confirm there is no bleacher-collapse or temporary-structure-collapse exclusion.
  5. Brain injury. For contact sports, confirm no brain-injury exclusion and an adequate concussion limit.
  6. Abuse limits. Confirm Sexual Abuse and Molestation coverage is present at an adequate limit, with $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate or higher when available as the target.
  7. Auto. Confirm Non-Owned and Hired Auto coverage is on the program.
  8. Risk-management support. Confirm the program helps you build the written plans, not just sells you a policy.

A good policy is something a specialist builds for you against a checklist like this one. The league does not build good coverage; the agent does. The point of the list is not to turn you into an underwriter, it is to let you ask the right questions before you sign.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I look for in a sports insurance policy?
Look at the exclusions and the limits, not the premium. Check for the Athletic Participant Exclusion, coverage that responds only during games and practices, bleacher or temporary-structure-collapse exclusions, brain-injury exclusions or low concussion limits, adequate Sexual Abuse and Molestation limits, Non-Owned and Hired Auto coverage, and whether the program supports your risk management.

What is the most dangerous exclusion in a sports insurance policy?
The Athletic Participant Exclusion. It strips the organization’s liability coverage when a participant is injured and files a lawsuit, which is the exact claim a sports organization most needs covered. It is uncommon but fatal where present, so confirm your policy does not carry it.

Why does the premium matter less than the coverage?
Because the cheapest-looking policy is often the one missing the coverage you most need. Two policies at similar prices can be worlds apart on exclusions and limits. The value of a policy is whether it pays and defends when one of your most likely serious claims arrives, and that is decided in the exclusions, not the price.

How do I know if my sports insurance limit is high enough?
Match the limit to the claim the coverage exists for. A Sexual Abuse and Molestation sublimit or a concussion limit that looks fine on paper can fall far short of actual claims, which run into the millions. The recommended abuse limits are $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate or higher when available, and for liability most organizations carry at least $1M, more if a field owner or sanctioning body requires it.

Does a low premium mean bad coverage?
Not by itself, but it is a reason to read the policy closely. A low premium can reflect group buying power and a program built for sports, or it can reflect missing coverages and dangerous exclusions. The only way to tell is to check the exclusions and limits against a checklist like the one above.

If you want help running your current policy through these checks, you can get an instant quote and a plain-English coverage breakdown at sadlersports.com, or read Sadler’s problem exclusions for sports organizations and the 7 critical mistakes to avoid when buying sports insurance.

Related Guides

This page is part of our complete Sports Insurance Coverage guide, which walks through every coverage a sports organization needs and what to check before you buy.

Back to the Sports Insurance Coverage guide