The Hidden Economics of Athlete Longevity: What Sports Clubs Are Missing
Founder & Managing Partner
Kamal Hassan is the Founder & Managing Partner of TURN8 — the venture operating partner for GCC corporates and sovereign-linked institutions. With 30+ years of experience across the United States, MENA, and Europe, Kamal has built a rare track record at the intersection of corporate innovation, venture capital, and operational execution.
For a longevity clinic business model built around athletes, this is the hidden line item most business plans miss entirely.
An average English Premier League (EPL) club loses £45 million per season to player injuries. Most people, including people inside football, think it is £9 million.
The Visible Cost vs. the Real Cost
£9 million is the wages clubs pay injured players while they cannot play – the part that shows up in the accounts. The other £36 million is the estimated financial impact of lost performance, including matches missed and results affected. That cost is much harder to see, and it is more than three times larger than the visible one.
What Insurance Covers
Insurance can cover career-ending injuries, short-term injuries, and drops in a player’s resale value.
What Insurance Does Not Cover
The wider performance impact – the £36 million – is much harder to insure.
The Bigger Issue Is the Whole Career, Not One Injury
A footballer is usually at his best between ages 26 and 30. Whether that form holds until 31 or fades by 32 is currently treated as pure luck. Nobody tracks it, and when a player’s contract ends, the club’s responsibility for his health typically ends with it.
Longevity as a Different Way to Think About Sport
This is why athlete longevity needs to be thought about differently: following an athlete’s health over the course of a full career, with the right people and systems staying involved as that career develops, rather than only responding to individual injuries as they happen.
What an Athlete Longevity Model Actually Requires
Three things: someone who owns player availability and is judged on it financially; continuity of care that follows the athlete through their entire career, connected to the health records already being built around them rather than duplicating them; and clinically governed responsibility for that player before, during, and after their playing years, delivered through credentialed medical partners rather than a single employed doctor.
The Question Sports Clubs Are Not Answering
Who owns an athlete’s next ten years after the club is done with them? Right now, for most clubs, the honest answer is no one – which is exactly the gap an athlete longevity business model is built to close.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an average Premier League club actually lose to injuries per season?
Around £45 million, not the £9 million most people – including people inside football – assume. The £9 million is visible wages paid to injured players; the remaining £36 million is the harder-to-see cost of lost performance.
Why is the performance-impact cost of injuries harder to insure than the wage cost?
Insurance can cover career-ending injuries, short-term injuries, and drops in resale value, but the broader impact of lost performance – missed matches and affected results – is much harder to structure as an insurable event.
What happens to a club's responsibility for a player's health after their contract ends?
It typically ends with the contract. No one currently tracks whether an athlete’s peak form, which usually runs from age 26 to 30, extends or fades once they leave the club.
What three things does an athlete longevity model actually require?
Someone who owns player availability and is judged on it financially; continuity of care that connects to the athlete’s existing health records across their whole career rather than duplicating them; and clinically governed responsibility for that player before, during, and after their playing years, delivered through credentialed medical partners.
Why does athlete longevity matter as a business model, not just a medical concern?
Because the £36 million in hidden performance-related injury cost per club per season represents a real financial gap that current club structures are not built to track or manage – which is the opportunity an athlete longevity venture addresses.