the usual reviews of this anything-but-usual year are being published. The fitness industry experienced its fair share of news, not all of which was COVID-19 related. The industry saw several companies move into public companies, experienced changes in ownership and leadership at several major brands, watched as Peloton faced difficulties and made moves into the brick-and-mortar space, saw several companies rebrand and experienced that deaths of industry leaders.
Following are the biggest news stories of 2021 for the fitness industry, according to Club Industry.
COVID-19’s Continued Impact
It likely comes as no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact the fitness industry in 2021, making it one of the biggest stories of the year.
In August, IHRSA’s National Health & Fitness Alliance (NHFA) shared that 22 percent of U.S. health clubs and studios had closed permanently since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and about 1.5 million people had lost their jobs in the industry — equating to about 47 percent of industry jobs. U.S. health clubs suffered a loss of $29.2 billion in revenue from March 2020 through June 2021, according to the NHFA
These numbers were based on data from 11 membership billing companies and input from industry consultant Rick Caro.
Even though gyms were reopened by 2021 in most states, some were still under capacity limits for at least part of the year. Despite health clubs in New York reopening in September 2020, indoor fitness classes were only allowed to resume (at 33 percent capacity initially) in New York City on March 22, 2021.
As vaccinations became more widely adopted and as the Delta variant of COVID-19 led to a higher number of COVID cases in the fall, a number of cities—including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Orleans — required vaccinations for entry to certain businesses, including gyms. Even prior to these mandates, some health clubs, including Equinox and VIDA Fitness, were requiring all members and staff to be vaccinated.
Several health clubs, including LA Fitness and Xponential Fitness, sued their insurance companies for denying business interruption insurance for the forced COVID-19-related closures of their clubs and studios. To date, none of the lawsuits has been successful.
