Key Takeaways
- Zurich and Players Health introduced Critical Injury Protection Insurance covering NIL contract payments when college athletes suffer season-disrupting injuries (typically 40% or more of the season)
- The policy protects colleges, universities, and collectives from financial exposure on NIL contracts, with distribution through Players Health’s integration with Teamworks, used by 99% of Division I athletic departments
- Players Health brings injury data from 5.5 million athletes across 40,000 programs to inform risk insights alongside the insurance coverage
- Coverage debuted for college football and now extends to men’s and women’s basketball plus the 2026 football transfer portal window
- The partnership represents the first major insurance product specifically designed for NIL-era financial risks in collegiate athletics
Addressing Financial Risk in the NIL Era
Zurich North America and Players Health have launched what they describe as the first insurance solution designed specifically for name, image and likeness contracts in college sports. The Critical Injury Protection Insurance policy covers NIL payments made or owed by colleges, universities, and collectives when a student athlete suffers an injury during official play, practice, or training that sidelines them for a significant portion of their season.
The surplus-lines coverage is customizable based on NIL contract values and can be structured to protect either the institution’s financial commitment or the athlete’s potential future NIL income. According to Zurich, the policy addresses a new category of financial exposure as athletic departments navigate rapid changes in collegiate sports compensation.
The product is underwritten by Zurich and distributed exclusively through Players Health, which integrated the offering into Teamworks, the software platform used by 99% of Division I athletic departments and more than 6,500 elite sports teams globally.
How the Coverage Works
The insurance activates when a covered athlete sustains an injury that prevents them from participating in typically 40% or more of their season. At that threshold, the policy reimburses the college or collective for NIL contract payments made or contractually owed to the athlete.
A second iteration of the product focuses on the athlete rather than the institution, providing coverage for potential loss of future NIL income due to injury. Both versions are tailored to the specific contract values involved, reflecting the wide range of NIL deals across different sports and competitive levels.
The policy launched for the 2025 college football season and is currently being marketed for men’s and women’s college basketball, as well as for athletes entering the 2026 football transfer portal. Zurich and Players Health developed the product over more than a year, according to Marty Banaszek, Head of Group Accident at Zurich North America.
Players Health’s Role Beyond Insurance
Players Health adds a risk management component to the partnership through its athlete injury database, which the Minneapolis-based company has built since its founding over a decade ago. The company protects more than 5.5 million athletes across 40,000 programs nationwide, spanning youth, amateur, fitness, and collegiate sports.
“Every major change in college athletics should start with one question: does this make the game safer and more sustainable for athletes?” said Players Health founder and CEO Tyrre Burks, who played college football at Winona State University and in the Canadian Football League before injuries ended his career. “This partnership allows us to answer ‘yes’ in a tangible way.”
Players Health’s team, largely composed of former college and professional athletes, has tracked injury data throughout the company’s history. They’ve developed an injury probability model and use their data to advise organizations on athlete safety protocols and risk mitigation strategies. This information layer accompanies the insurance product, giving buyers access to insights drawn from one of the largest sports injury databases in operation.
Tate Gillespie, VP of collegiate and NIL strategy at Players Health and previously Director of NIL Strategy at the University of Kansas, noted that athletic directors and coaching staffs are seeking tools to manage athlete risks while protecting program budgets. The policy provides both financial protection and data-informed decision-making resources.
Market Context and Stakeholder Perspective
The NIL landscape remains in flux following the NCAA’s 2021 policy change allowing college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. Collectives, booster groups, and athletic departments now manage substantial financial commitments to student athletes, creating exposure if injuries prevent athletes from fulfilling contracts or maintaining their competitive value.
Zurich has customized accident and health products for employers, educational institutions, and affinity groups for over two decades. The company employs 10,000 people in the United States and Canada and serves more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies. Jim Villa, Zurich Global Head of Accident & Health, described the Players Health partnership as delivering “an inventive, consultative solution for an exciting new era of college sports.”
The collaboration positions both companies as early movers in a market that is still defining its insurance needs. As NIL contracts grow in size and complexity, particularly for high-profile athletes in revenue sports, the financial risks for all parties continue to evolve.
What This Means for Athlete Protection Markets
The Zurich-Players Health product establishes a framework for how insurance markets might address the financial mechanics of college sports as they professionalize. While the current offering targets collegiate athletics, Players Health’s broader footprint across youth and amateur sports suggests potential applications for similar protection models as those segments mature.
The integration with Teamworks provides distribution reach across nearly all Division I programs, giving the product immediate access to decision-makers managing NIL budgets and athlete safety protocols. Whether other insurers develop competing products or additional coverage layers emerge will likely depend on how NIL contracts and their associated risks continue to develop over the next several competitive seasons.
For now, the partnership offers a defined solution to a specific problem: protecting financial investments in college athletes against the unpredictable nature of sports injuries. The inclusion of injury data and risk insights alongside the insurance coverage reflects Players Health’s positioning as both a protection provider and a safety-focused analytics resource.
via: PR Newswire
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