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Sports Insuring sports teams can be costly in California

A common myth about the game of soccer is that it’s a non-contact sport.

Fast? Yes. Intense? At times it can be. Exciting? That depends on who you ask.

But is it a non-contact sport? Hardly, according to an official with the World Indoor Soccer League. And it definitely isn’t a non-contact sport on artificial turf, where the playing surface has less “give.”

“Because of the carpet surface you don’t have the give like you do on outdoor surfaces,” said Steven Powell, chief operating officer of the WISL. “This year we had a little bit more of a harsher year in terms of injuries,” because of the indoor surfaces and the increased level of competition.

Started just three years ago, the WISL currently has eight teams including the new San Diego Sockers, which starts their first season in August.

The league acts as a single-entity organization with payroll and operation necessities, such as insurance issues, dealt through the league headquarters in Plano, Texas.

Insuring a professional team, especially an indoor soccer team, can be more expensive in California than in Texas, Powell said.

“In general terms, it can be almost twice as much for a club to pay a (workers’ compensation) state rate out West as it can be here,” he said.


– A Third Party Handles Insurance

Since workers’ compensation insurance for professional athletes is vastly different from a traditional business’ workers’ compensation package, the league employs a third-party to arrange insurance for the league.

The WISL uses Mark Grossman, president of Richmond, Va.-based Monument Sports Group, to seek out the best insurance company for the league’s players. Each of the eight teams can have a maximum of 20 players on a squad, Powell said.

Grossman recommended American Specialty Insurance Services Inc., in Roanoke, Ind. That firm represents Major League Soccer and baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies.

Grossman’s firm also represents the A-League’s San Diego Flash.

The majority of the insurance issues for professional sports teams are prevention, Grossman said.

“There are studies that go into knee braces and things like that to mitigate the severity of knee injuries and ACL injuries,” he said.

Grossman said he works closely with the league offices to determine where the claims are coming from.

“Is it because one team’s facility, say an outdoor team, has bad turf, or is the coach like an old Vince Lombardi-type where he’s running the players too much and they’re more prone to injury or they’re not stretching enough?” he said.


– Cause Of Injuries Are Documented

Documenting the cause of every injury is essential to keeping leagues from paying excessive insurance fees, Grossman said.

Grossman described the workers’ compensation premiums in California and Connecticut as “very expensive” compared to other parts of the country.

He did say, however, they were comparable to those of a typical industrial business.

“It wouldn’t be that they would fold, but it takes a league or a team from having standard insurance to an assigned risk (policy),” he said. “Like if you were a bad driver, they would skyrocket.”

With the league handling insurance issues, team front offices can allocate more resources to marketing, said Yuki Fujii, director of operations for the San Diego Sockers.

“When you’re a smaller entity you have to go out and search for other ways to create revenue,” she said.


– Deals Benefit Both Parties

One of the ways the Sockers offset the cost of a team doctor, athletic trainer and the costs associated with treating injured players is by signing reciprocal marketing deals with local health care groups.

The deals usually consist of discounted advertisements associated with the team, such as in the stadium, in exchange for discounts on treatments for injured players, said Powell from the league’s office.

The Sockers were close to signing a deal with a local group on Feb. 8, and Fujii wouldn’t state the name of the group working with the team.

She said working with a local firm helped keep costs down.

“This group in the past has worked locally with a lot of the smaller sports franchises here and I know they’ve worked with the (previous) Sockers (franchises) in the past,” Fujii said.

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