Representatives re-introduce PHIT Act with strong bipartisan support in support of a healthier America
SILVER SPRING, MD (May 13, 2021) – Yesterday, the Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act was re-introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 3109. The PHIT Act aims to help Americans save money on activity-related expenses (i.e. gym membership, sports league fees, equipment, fitness classes, etc.) to lower the financial barrier that stands between many Americans and a healthy, active lifestyle. SFIA commends Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI) for his leadership on PHIT and applauds fellow Ways & Means members, Representatives Mike Kelly (R-PA), Terri Sewell (D-AL) and Darrin LaHood (R-IL) for joining Congressman Kind as original cosponsors.
“Staying active is the best preventative medicine, and it’s especially important for kids and teens as they build healthy habits,” said Rep. Ron Kind. “Unfortunately, for many families, cost can be a barrier to participating in physical activities and youth sports. The PHIT Act is a commonsense way to invest in a healthy future for our children by making it more affordable for families to ensure physical activity is a regular part of their lives.”
COVID has had a major impact on activity as many youth sports were cancelled and health clubs have largely been shuttered during the pandemic. Ironically, the less active you are, the likelihood of experiencing more severe COVID outcome is greater, should you contract the disease. This is not surprising, as sedentary people have a higher incidence of the underlying conditions that contributed to hospitalizations, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
It’s clear that active people are healthier, and the pandemic highlighted the threat posed by the inactive population. In order to lower healthcare spending, we must get more people active in the U.S. and the PHIT Act will provide an incentive to get kids back on the field, court or rink and adults into gyms and fitness classes. The financial burden of participation is rests heavy on many families across the country. The PHIT Act is the right approach to help America recover physically and mentally, not only as we emerge from the pandemic, but for better health for generations to come.
“Activity in America has suffered during COVID and we have seen an increase in both physical and mental health issues because of it,” said SFIA CEO & President, Tom Cove. “Poor health in the sedentary population is not news but the pandemic has emphasized the importance of activity in a healthy lifestyle as inactive people had far worse outcomes and put more strain on our healthcare system. We commend Congressmen Kind, Sewell, Kelly and LaHood for their leadership on the PHIT Act, to promote health by lowering the cost of activity.”
For more information on the PHIT Act, please visit www.PassPHIT.org.
ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.
SFIA hosts 5th annual Start-Up Challenge on a virtual stage, highlighting the latest innovations
in sports and fitness technology, products & services
SILVER SPRING, MD (May 4, 2021) – The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) is proud to announce its 2021 Start-Up Challenge winner: Bisu. Co-founder and CEO, Daniel Maggs, presented the revolutionary home health lab that provides personalized nutrition and lifestyle advice through urine and saliva tests. Bisu is starting with a nutrient test that tracks markers such as minerals, vitamins, pH and hydration.
“We’re delighted to have been chosen as the winner, and to stand with so many other great finalists,” said Bisu CEO & Co-Founder, Daniel Maggs. “Bisu is excited to engage with the sport and fitness industry through the SFIA. We want to use Bisu Body Coach not only to connect people with their own bodies, but to connect health and fitness service providers with their customers through data.”
Ten finalists were chosen to compete in the 2021 SFIA Start-Up Challenge. In preparation for today’s event, finalists submitted pitch videos, developed in conjunction with Spark Inc, to be evaluated by the judges. The finalists each received 15 minutes of live Q&A, allowing the judges to better understand each company and make their final evaluations. More than 140 judges participated, including representatives from leading sports and fitness leaders such as Brooks, NFL and PUMA; renowned industry investors, such as Next Ventures Sports & Wellness VC, Baird, North Castle Partners and KB Partners; and innovators such as lululemon Whitespace, Under Armour Innovation and Hydrow. Throughout the competition, judges actively solicit follow-up meetings with contestants to directly explore potential future partnerships.
For being named the grand prize winner, Bisu will receive a multifaceted prize package, which will include a virtual meeting with the Under Armour innovation team to discuss business strategy and a first-hand experience with Under Armour’s UX approach; a one-year online intellectual property protection subscription and a seed prize of $5,000, both provided by OpSec Security; and an exclusive media marketing package provided by Spark Inc. To see the grand prize details, click here.
“The Start-Up Challenge is an event designed to highlight the newest innovations in sports and fitness,” said SFIA Chief Business Officer, Bill Patterson. “All of our applicants, and especially these 10 finalists, exemplify the exciting developments within our industry and the SFIA is proud to provide them with a stage to shine.”
Tom Waller, Chief Science Officer of lululemon, said, “It has been a pleasure to see the wide range of creative and strategic solutions pointing to the future of our industry. This year has been both a challenge and a catalyst to innovation and this competition is a fantastic platform to gain insight to diverse talent and ideas that promote confidence in sport going forward.”
Matt Tingler, Managing Director of Baird, added, “SFIA’s Start-Up Challenge has consistently identified the industry leaders of tomorrow, with several past participants having raised meaningful amounts of capital and successfully commercializing their products and technologies. This year’s participants represented a cross-section of companies driving innovation in multiple areas of the sports and fitness industry that will benefit consumers for years to come. The Start-Up Challenge is a great event, providing a platform for entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to the industry’s leaders. It is an event I am always excited about and look forward to.”
In 2022, the Start-Up Challenge will return to its traditional format, held in-person, in conjunction with SFIA’s Industry Leaders Summit. Entrepreneurs and start-ups interested in participating may contact [email protected], or check www.SFIA.org this Fall, for more information.
ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.
SILVER SPRING, MD (April 29, 2021) – The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) will hold its annual major industry event in a virtual format November 9-11, 2021. Entitled “SFIA Trends & Insights 2021,” the virtual event will feature top sports & fitness executives and high-profile subject matter experts addressing strategic issues and opportunities in a post-pandemic marketplace.
“We know our executives are intensely interested in learning insights and innovative strategies around taking advantage of a national economic recovery and increased physical activity,” said Tom Cove. President and CEO of SFIA. “After much consultation with our Board of Directors and member companies, we concluded that a virtual format is the most productive way to deliver valuable content this year. While we recognize many people are looking forward to in-person events, we heard clearly that restrictive travel policies and budget constraints in 2021 would likely limit attendance from many who would want to participate. Therefore, a virtual format was best for most members this year and we will return to an in-person SFIA Industry Leaders Summit next fall.”
SFIA Trends and Insights 2021 will be held from November 9-11, 2021 and will be free to all SFIA members. Sessions will include speakers, moderated panels and interactive industry discussions that touch upon today’s crucial concerns to the sports and fitness industry, including: changing consumer preferences; sports and fitness market analysis; return to youth sports trends; regaining momentum within the fitness club industry; organizational resiliency; supply chain developments; trade and tariffs in a Biden Administration; sustainability policy and practice; equity & inclusion; and more.
Non-SFIA members are invited to participate in all of the programs and interactive discussions for a fee. Registration is expected to open in May 2021.
In response to members’ desire for safe in-person gatherings, SFIA is planning to launch a series of regional events throughout the United States. Designed for groups of 50 attendees in a single afternoon, these regional events will provide attendees key educational content and networking, in a minimal-cost, highly accessible manner. SFIA envisions this opportunity to welcome younger industry colleagues as well as seasoned executives, further building on the goal to foster community and professional development.
“Our industry is stronger when our members can interact and feed off the energy of each other,” continued Cove. “Rather than ask our companies to come to us, we’re turning the model around and going to them.”
ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.
Finalists pitch their business to 130+ sports & fitness executives and investors
SILVER SPRING, MD (April 8, 2021) – Ten finalists have been selected by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) selection committee to present their start-up at the 2021 SFIA Start-Up Challenge. The application pool included entrepreneurs in various aspects of the industry, ranging from sports tech to fitness equipment to health and wellness products. Over the years, this event has showcased the most competitive, innovative businesses in sports and fitness. To date, previous finalists have raised over $150 million in funding.
All finalists will present a five-minute pitch video, created in partnership with Spark Inc., to an elite cohort of judges that will be evaluating each company in terms of relevancy, creativity and potential. The contestants are competing for an extensive grand prize package that includes a cash prize, online brand protection security, both provided by OpSec Security, as well as a consultation day with the Under Armour Innovation Team, an exclusive media package provided by Spark Inc, and more. The Start-Up Challenge winner will be announced following the live virtual event on May 4th.
The finalists include:
· Bisu: A home health lab that provides personalized nutrition and lifestyle advice, using microfluidic technology to take urine and saliva testing from the stone age of conventional test strips, to an easy, accurate part of your self-care routine.
· HitCheck: A quick cognitive traumatic brain injury (TBI) assessment using a mobile smartphone app for early detection through technology that compares your personal baseline to post-injury to provide unique data for medical experts to make critical brain health decisions.
· Kayezen: Resistance bands and tubes that can deliver a wide variety of exercises, either indoors or outside.
· Metric Mate: Cost-effective way to autonomously track, store, analyze and share your strength training workout data any time, from any place, allowing you to directly share with a professional trainer, strength coach or physical therapist.
· Readout: A digital biomarker start-up providing a breath technology platform that allows development and commercialization of handheld diagnostic devices for consumers and clinical use cases. This non-invasive, unlimited and highly accurate measurements provide insights into human metabolism, specifically fat burn in our “repair” state after a metabolic switch.
· Realplay: Delivers video of every swing, pitch and catch that any player makes on a baseball or softball field to help players improve, share their highlights with anybody and hold on to memories.
· Reflexion: A cognitive sports training company specialized in training visual and mental abilities in athletes, including reaction time, decision making speed under pressure, focus, moving object tracking, spacial awareness, peripheral vision, and more using a touchscreen connected fitness platform and cloud-based data analytics.
· RooSense: Nonwoven fabric materials that collect and analyze data from sweat to provide insights to athletes that allows them to improve training and avoid injury. RooSense is developing integrated sensing materials using functionalized carbon nanotubes which are selective to sweat sodium, to provide real-time feedback about health and performance.
· VAY: Software built to analyze human posture and motion in real-time to provide feedback on how exercises are performed, count correct/incorrect repetitions and provide progress tracking.
· Workforce Athletics: Providing turnkey solutions for intercompany sports, operating corporate sports leagues and tournaments that promote employee retention, inclusion, teamwork and wellness.
“We have seen time and time again, sports bring people together,” said Tom Cove, SFIA President and CEO. “Now, more than ever, our country is focused on coming together again, as well as maintaining good physical health. Many of the innovative companies presenting this year highlight that message in their purpose, and we are proud to highlight next generation innovation that grows and enhances sports and fitness as we know it. The SFIA Start-Up Challenge has served as a major steppingstone to several new business in our industry. The level of competition is unmatched, and we are excited to see what’s in store this year.”
ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.
SFIA Releases annual Manufacturers’ Sales by Category Report
SILVER SPRING, MD (March 25, 2021) – Despite an economic recession in 2020, the U.S. sports and fitness market, including footwear, apparel and equipment, grew by 0.6 percent in 2020. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) released the 2021 Manufacturers’ Sales by Category Report today, reporting major growth in consumer fitness, as well as a strong sports equipment category. Traditionally, sports and fitness sales patterns tend to mimic GDP growth; however, as the national GDP decreased 2.3 percent in 2020, due to the COVID-19 crisis, the sports and fitness industry was slightly up.
The impact of the recession was very unique in sports and fitness, highlighting specific categories that gained popularity under nationwide restrictions. Consumer fitness was booming in 2020, increasing 40.5 percent in just one year. This surge was the contributing factor to overall industry growth in 2020. Free weights (104.2 percent), exercise benches (78.0 percent), home gyms (73.7 percent) and exercise cycles (67.1 percent) were the biggest gainers in the consumer fitness category.
While a majority of traditional team sports equipment products were down, the basketball category held strong (11.6 percent), spearheaded by a 20.3 percent growth in basketball backboards. Camping (10.9 percent), fishing (14.9 percent) and golf (19.0 percent) also boasted significant growth in the equipment category. Many sales categories reflected participation trends reported in the 2021 SFIA Topline Participation Report.
The athletic footwear category was down 4.0 percent, but the outdoor/adventure (15.1 percent), fitness/workout (14.8 percent) and golf (8.4 percent) footwear categories increased significantly. Again, this increase strongly mimics participation trends of those specific activities in 2020.
The SFIA Manufacturers’ Sales by Category Report measures U.S. wholesale revenues across 5 major categories, 34 subcategories, with nearly 150 various breakdowns. This report is free to all SFIA members and available for purchase here.
ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.
SFIA Topline Participation Report shows tennis, golf, home fitness up, team sports down
SILVER SPRING, MD (Feb. 16, 2021) – Americans started strong, stopped everything when COVID-19 hit, and then pursued pandemic-acceptable sports and fitness activities as the year progressed, according to SFIA’s Annual Topline Participation Report released today. The report measures the participation rates of all Americans, ages 6 and above, tracking 120 sport, fitness and outdoor activities. In addition, this year’s report features a special section: COVID-19 Effect on Participation.
Individual sports such as tennis, golf, running, hiking, skateboarding and surfing thrived in 2020. Helping to drive growth was a participant’s ability to take part in these activities outdoors and socially-distant. Conversely, team sports, which do not lend themselves to social distancing, struggled to maintain participation. Exacerbating this trend was the significant impact of school and park closures, taking away access to scholastic, travel/competitive and recreational sports. However, SFIA’s trend analysis suggests a substantial amount of informal team sports activity, such as backyard play, did take place. To this end, basketball and ultimate frisbee recorded increases in core participation rates.
COVID-19 was a double-edged sword for the fitness industry. With gyms and health clubs being forced to close, fitness participation levels overall decreased in 2020. Fitness activities that could be done at home, like yoga, Pilates and kettlebells, showed robust participation increases. Traditionally popular activities done generally in health clubs or studios, like stationary cycling (group), stair-climbing machine and cardio kickboxing, experienced significant declines.
Notably, the number of totally inactive Americans, defined as those who did not participate in any of the 120 tracked activities, dropped by 7 million. This 2.4 percent decrease from 2019 marks the largest decrease in the number of inactive Americans since SFIA introduced this survey in 2008, one positive sign from a complicated year.
In all, the report indicates that Americans stayed fairly active, but not with the same frequency and avidity as in pre-pandemic times. Americans searched out pandemic-appropriate activities where they could, with varying degrees of success and sustainability.
“2020 brought unprecedented challenges for Americans looking to be physically active, but we find hope in the millions of Americans who changed their habits, venues and activities to somehow exercise and play,” said Tom Cove, SFIA President and CEO. “At the same time, we see so many people yearning for their children and themselves to get back on fields, courts and health clubs; we all must work together to provide safer sports and fitness opportunities as soon as possible.”
The 2021 Topline Participation Report is free to SFIA members and available for purchase to the public here.
ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.
SFIA teams up with Under Armour, OpSec Security & Spark Inc. to provide unprecedented opportunities
SILVER SPRING, MD (Jan. 26, 2021) – The Sports & Fitness Industry Association will be hosting the annual Start-Up Challenge on May 4, 2021 in a virtual setting. The format will be a little different as we transition to a virtual event, hosting over 150 judges from across the sporting goods and fitness industries, including executives, investors, venture capitalists, thought leaders and industry experts. The competition will be intense as start-ups battle for a substantial grand prize package.
Under Armour will grant the grand prize winner access to the Under Armour Innovation Team, a collection of industry executives chartered to propel innovation in the sports and fitness industry. The Start-Up Challenge winner will virtually meet with industry insiders to discuss marketing, financing, manufacturing and the user experience (UX). The selected start-up will also get to experience Under Armour’s approach towards innovative UX by creating their own custom-designed Under Armour shoes.
OpSec Security, a global leader in brand protection, will provide an online landscape to help the grand prize winner assess their global intellectual property risk (a $25,000 value). This package includes a one-year subscription to their Early Warning System (EWS), where OpSec will perform a number of enforcements for fraud or intellectual property infringement. OpSec has also provided a seed prize to the Start-Up Challenge winner of $5,000.
Spark Inc. will be providing an exclusive media package built specifically for the grand prize winner. Representatives of Spark Inc. will work closely with the start-up to create an effective media package to help market and engage new audiences. The package will include a 2-minute company showcase video, a 20-second pre-roll video, a 15-second social media video and a strategic marketing plan.
“We are incredibly excited to bring together such an eclectic variety of companies that will truly put the Start-Up Challenge champion at the greatest advantage as they embark on this journey,” said SFIA CEO & President, Tom Cove. “The finalists and winners alike from previous Start-Up Challenge competitions have gone on to great success, equating to hundreds of millions of dollars in capital and revenue. We expect the level of competition between this year’s finalists to be our best yet.”
In addition, the winner will also receive a free registration to SFIA’s 2021 Industry Leaders Summit, a speaking spot and judges seat at the 2022 Start-Up Challenge, national media coverage, and a spotlight in SFIA’s State of the Industry Research Report.
Applications will be accepted through Friday, January 29, 2021. Click here to apply.
ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.
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Dan Arment Re-Elected SFIA Chairman; Jake Griffith (Walmart) and April Lane (Amazon) Newly Elected to Board of Directors
SILVER SPRING, MD (Dec. 15, 2020) – Dan Arment, President & CEO of Riddell & BRG Sports, has been re-elected as the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) Chairman of the Board for a second one-year term. In addition, two new directors were elected, and four members were re-elected, to the SFIA Board of Directors for three-year terms. This announcement was made at the end of the SFIA’s Annual Meeting, which took place on Dec. 12, 2020.
New additions to the board include Jake Griffith (General Manager for Sports, Fitness & Outdoors; Walmart) and April Lane (Director/General Manager of Sports & Outdoor; Amazon).
“As SFIA Chairman, in a year unlike any other, Dan Arment has been a tremendous leader for our organization and the industry. We are fortunate and excited he has stepped up for another year,” said Tom Cove, SFIA President & CEO. “The Board will further benefit from the valuable participation of Amazon’s April Lane and Walmart Ecommerce’s Jake Griffith. Along with the rest of our returning Board members, SFIA is well situated to support the industry’s recovery and resurgence in the post-pandemic era.”
In addition, the following board members were re-elected to three-year terms: Mike Dowse (CEO and Executive Director, United States Tennis Association), Jared Drinkwater (Chief Marketing Officer, BSN Sports), Kurt Tandan (Associate General Counsel & Senior Director of Corporate Affairs, adidas) and Mike Zlaket (President and CEO, Rawlings Sporting Goods).
Newly elected and re-elected directors will join the existing SFIA board members, which include:, Jennifer Bendall (Senior Director of Government Affairs, Nike), Chris Clawson (CEO, Life Fitness), Melissa Dawson (President, Molten USA), Kim Davis (Executive Vice President, Social Impact, Growth Initiative & Legislative Affairs; NHL), Rawleigh Grove (Vice President & General Counsel, PING Golf), Ray Hilvert (Vice President, Global Sports Marketing & Team Sports; New Balance), Scott McDonald (CEO, Body-Solid Inc.), Neil Morton (CEO, ATA International), Roman Oben (Vice President of Football Operations, National Football League), Jonathan Ram (Group President, Global Activewear; Hanesbrands), Michael Schroeder (Vice President, Global Lifestyle Brands; Gildan), Dan Sheridan (Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Brooks Running) and Marco Zambianchi (President, North America; Technogym USA).
Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS) is excited to offer a new interactive dashboard tool to enhance its 2020 US sports participation data, produced on behalf of the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). The essential data for the industry comes from the Physical Activity Council of which SFIA is a founding partner. The study has been referred to as “the gold standard in sports participation” by ESPN.
The dashboard is targeted at retailers, brands and federations who purchase multiple sports reports and wish to more quickly and flexibly compare findings across those sports.
This powerful new online tool will allow users to compare at a glance the participation trends across multiple sports and activities. Views compare sports on a topline basis, as well as within demographic sub-categories, making it easier, for example, to analyse sports participation among women aged under 35, or among those who earn over $50,000. The tool shows the last five years of data, making it easy to see which sports and activities are growing fastest among particular groups of participants.
Toggles will allow buyers to switch specific sports and activities on and off to create fully customised views in a matter of seconds.
Users can also export a particular view in excel or jpg format for easy inclusion in marketing plans, strategy discussions and reports.
The project is a collaboration between SMS and Culture of Insight (COI), who have produced insightful dashboards in tandem with SMS across a range of projects. One such dashboard reports on The Bicycle Association Cycling Market Data Service, powered by SMS, a tool which provides model level granularity on over 700,000 SKUS across the UK cycling industry.
Keith Storey, President of SMS USA, who oversaw the launch of the new dashboard, commented. “The participation data is the definitive source of information on sports and fitness participation in 89 sports across the US. We work closely with our clients to help them understand, and more importantly, use the data to create meaningful change at their organisation. We’ve developed the dashboard for and with those businesses that rely on multiple single sport reports to make key decisions on areas like product design, facility installation and inventory control across categories. This tool makes it quicker and easier than ever to drill down into the data and based on early feedback, we know that this is already benefitting users.”
The dashboard is an additional service at extra cost, and is sold separately from the single sports reports which are available via the SFIA website and the SMS research store.
SILVER SPRING, MD (Dec. 1, 2020) – The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) annual Start-Up Challenge, the industry’s premier innovation showcase, moves to a virtual platform for the 2021 contest. The Start Up Challenge, now in its fifth year, brings together young companies and entrepreneurs to pitch innovative concepts in a competitive format. All challenge finalists will virtually present on May 4, 2021 to over 150 judges, consisting of executives, investors and thought leaders in the sports and fitness industry. Up to 10 finalists will be selected from the applicant pool.
The application is now available and open to any entrepreneur with an idea, product or service in the sporting goods, team sports, sports tech and/or fitness space. All applications submitted before January 29, 2021 will be evaluated and considered for a finalist position. Interested parties can apply at www.sfiastartupchallenge.org.
“Innovation is at the heart of our industry, and so much of the progress we’ve seen comes from small inventors and entrepreneurs driven to make a difference in sports and fitness,” said SFIA CEO & President, Tom Cove. “We’re excited to bring the Start-Up Challenge to the virtual stage. The post-pandemic marketplace opens doors for a new generation of ideas and offers a platform more accessible to both competitors and judges all around the world.”
To date, SFIA has showcased 21 start-up companies over the last four years, providing start-ups with the opportunity to raise awareness, receive investments, initiate partnerships and kickstart their business in front of their targeted audience. These finalists have collectively raised over $150 million. In addition to presenting directly to over 150 judges from across the industry, all 2021 finalists will receive one year of SFIA membership, a company highlight in 2021 SFIA research report, personal introductions to five judges of your choice and real-time feedback. The champion will also receive a video digital package, a 2022 Start-Up Challenge judge’s spot, free registration for the 2021 Industry Leaders Summit and a company feature in a 2021 SFIA research report.
The application is now open and can be reviewed and submitted at www.sfiastartupchallenge.org. Click here to learn more.
ABOUT SFIA: The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), the #1 source for sport and fitness research, is the leading global trade association of manufacturers, retailers, and marketers in the sports products and fitness industry. SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation, as well as industry vitality through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs and member services. For more information, please visit www.sfia.org.
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