SBADecoded
Home / Industries / Sports and Recreation Instruction

Industry · SBA lending record

SBA loans for sports and recreation instruction

11,455 SBA 7(a) loans since 2010. What they were for, how big, how long, and how often they went wrong.

Loans made
11,455
2010 onward
Typical loan
$129k
median approved
Typical term
10 yr
Default rate
1.8%
all industries 2.1%

Against other industries

defaulted within 7 years
Sports and Recreation Instruction
1.8%
Full-Service Restaurants
3.2%
Offices of Lawyers
2.2%
All Other Specialty Trade Contract
3.4%
Offices of Dentists
1.7%
All SBA 7(a) loans
2.1%

Default rate is not a judgement on the industry. It tells you how a lender will price your risk, and how much cushion you should build in.

When borrowers got into trouble

share of failures by year
Year 1
0%
Year 2
10%
Year 3
20%
Year 4
18%
Year 5
16%
Year 6+
36%

Trouble rarely arrives in year one. It arrives when the opening cash is gone — which is an argument for borrowing more working capital, not less.

What this means for your application

A typical loan here runs $129k over 10 years. If you are asking for far more than that, expect harder questions and a longer file. If far less, check which lenders will even take it — many won't go below $150,000.

Find lenders by minimum loan → Check the numbers work →

Source SBA 7(a) FOIA, NAICS 611 Released 2026-06-30 Loans 11,455

Related industries