Trampoline Park Insurance: IAAPA Launches a Group Program

On October 20, 2026, IAAPA announced the launch of IAAPA Insurance Solutions, a licensed insurance agency created through a joint venture between the association and Higginbotham Insurance Agency. The program is available now to IAAPA members in the United States, and it makes its public debut at IAAPA Expo 2026 in Orlando from November 16 to 20.

The announcement matters to anyone operating a trampoline park, because the trigger behind it is the cost line nobody can negotiate away. IAAPA said its board acted in response to an insurance market where rates have risen, carriers have pulled back from certain classes of business, and the attractions industry has lacked a unified voice in the insurance marketplace.

For a park owner, insurance now sits beside rent and labor as one of the three largest fixed costs. Unlike those two, it can move 30% or more at a single renewal without anything changing inside your building.

This article covers what the new program actually is, why the market reached this point, what a trampoline park buys when it buys coverage, what the premiums mean per admission, and what a group program changes, and does not change, for your renewal.

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1. What IAAPA Announced, and When

The press release is short and specific. IAAPA Insurance Solutions is a licensed insurance agency, structured as a joint venture between IAAPA and Higginbotham, one of the largest independent brokers in the country, with more than 140 offices and about 4,000 team members. Insurance services are provided by licensed professionals via Higginbotham, so the association is not becoming a carrier. It is building a brokerage channel for its own membership.

Josh Powers, chief financial officer of IAAPA, said in the release that members have reported for years that the insurance marketplace does not always reflect the realities of operating an attraction. Scott Callison, director of member relations for the new agency, described the program as a long-term resource rather than an initiative tied to the Expo. The plan includes a dedicated director based at IAAPA headquarters in Orlando, specialists who understand different segments including family entertainment centers, and risk management resources developed with IAAPA.

Independent trade coverage followed within a day. InterGame reported the launch on October 21, 2026, and Theme Park Insider published its own analysis the same day, noting that many parks from small family entertainment centers to large resorts have struggled to get fair and affordable policies.

2. Why the Board Acted: A Market That Stopped Writing the Class

The press release states the problem in three clauses: rates have risen, carriers have pulled back from certain classes of business, and the industry has lacked a unified voice. None of that is abstract for trampoline park operators, who sit in one of the most exposed retail categories an underwriter can look at.

Broker-published evidence fills in the picture. The Insurance Center, a Utah-based independent agency, published an analysis in August 2026 finding that standard general liability rates for family entertainment centers had risen 30% to 100% nationwide, with Hartford, Travelers and Liberty Mutual among the carriers declining the class. When admitted carriers decline a class, the business does not disappear. It moves to surplus lines, where terms are negotiated rather than filed, minimum premiums are higher, and inspection requirements are stricter.

The scale of that migration is measurable. According to AM Best data reported by Insurance Journal in September 2025, surplus lines accounted for 3.6% of total US property and casualty premium in 2000 and 12.3% by the end of 2024. Within commercial lines alone, the share reached 25.7%. Surplus lines direct premium written grew 12.3% in 2024 to $129.8 billion, the seventh consecutive year of double-digit growth. Roughly one in four commercial premium dollars now moves through a channel where every term, including the parts that frustrate operators most, is on the table.

The injury data underneath this is not new. A study by Teague and colleagues published in Pediatrics in 2024 measured 1.14 injuries per 1,000 jumper hours across commercial trampoline parks, with higher rates in high-performance areas. We examined that dataset in an earlier article on injury rates by zone. Underwriters read the same journals operators do, and they price the categories where participant injury frequency is structurally elevated.

Why trampoline parks landed hardest

The hardening of this market has a sequence, and knowing the sequence tells you which parts are cyclical and which are structural. The first phase was loss accumulation: as the format scaled through the 2010s, claim frequency rose with attendance, and a small number of severe participant injury cases produced settlements large enough to reset carrier appetite for the whole category. The second phase was withdrawal: several carriers stopped writing new trampoline park business altogether, and others kept renewing only existing accounts with strict conditions attached.

The third phase is the one operators are living through now. With fewer admitted carriers in the class, submissions migrate to surplus lines, and the brokers who place that business describe the mechanics plainly. Premium minimums rise. Deductibles rise. Inspections become annual instead of occasional, and the inspection findings become conditions of coverage rather than suggestions. None of this requires a claim on your policy to affect your premium, because the category, not the account, is what repriced.

The fourth phase is where the IAAPA program sits. When a class loses its unified voice, each operator negotiates from isolation, and carriers price every account as an unknown. An association that aggregates the demand side, standardizes the risk data and speaks for the category changes the negotiation from one park against one underwriter to a portfolio against a market. Whether that translation works in practice is exactly what the November Expo debut and the member survey are designed to test.

3. What a Trampoline Park Actually Buys: The Coverage Stack

Most owners discover the structure of their coverage the hard way, at claim time. The stack has layers, and the boundaries between them are where surprises live.

What it is General liability responds when a third party says your business caused them injury. The spectator who slips on the stairs and the parent who trips over a bag in the lobby are general liability claims.

What it decides A paying jumper who lands wrong on a court is a different claim. Standard general liability typically excludes injuries to participants in the activity, and that gap is filled by participant liability, purchased separately. According to the Insurance Center, adding a $2 million participant limit can roughly double the general-liability-only cost for a trampoline park.

What to verify Carriers rate trampoline parks on jumper-hours, meaning attendance multiplied by session length. Two parks with the same floor area can receive very different quotes if one runs longer sessions or higher peak attendance. Check which rating basis your quote uses before comparing prices, and align your safety documentation with recognized park safety standards before the inspection visit, not after.

Where these numbers come from: the ranges above were published in April 2026 by The Insurance Center, an insurance brokerage, in its trampoline park cost guide. They are broker-published guides for a mid-size park with a clean claims history, not filed rates, and not a quote. Your actual premium depends on state, claims history, limits, deductibles and rating basis.

4. The Cost Math: From Annual Premium to Per-Admission Cost

Premium quotes arrive as one annual number, which makes them hard to compare with the per-ticket economics operators actually manage. Two conversions make the line item legible.

Insurance cost per admission = annual program premium ÷ annual admissions
Annual admissions ≈ leased square feet × visits per square foot per year
Admissions needed to cover a renewal increase = premium increase ÷ average ticket

For the reference box, this article uses 31,512 sq ft (2,928 m²), the floor area registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for the Altitude Trampoline Park in Arlington, which opened in October 2026. Applying the 2.0 visits per square foot per year benchmark used in our earlier analysis of mall anchor conversions gives 63,024 admissions per year. The ticket price of $19.99 for a 90-minute session is taken from the park’s published rate.

Three comparisons put those numbers in context. First, rent: at the $24.79 per sq ft average US retail asking rent published by CBRE for Q2 2026, the figure behind our rent cost breakdown, the reference box carries roughly $781,000 a year in rent, so even the high insurance scenario is under 3.2% of the rent bill in good years. Second, labor: our earlier breakdown of supervision staffing costs put one full staffed post at roughly $72,000 a year including benefits, so a program that jumps from the low to the high scenario costs about as much as one additional supervisor post. Third, claims: the Insurance Center notes that a single $15,000 slip-and-fall claim can raise a renewal by 15% to 30%. On a $50,000 program, that is $7,500 to $15,000 of new annual cost, or 375 to 751 admissions at the reference ticket price, every year until the loss history ages out.

This is why a renewal increase lands harder than its percentage suggests. Insurance is a fixed cost, so a 30% increase is not absorbed by trimming variable spend. It has to be earned back through the gate, in the shoulder months, at the margin.

5. What a Group Program Changes, and What It Does Not

The logic of a group program is portfolio underwriting. A single 25,000 sq ft park negotiating alone presents an underwriter with one risk, one loss history and no context. A trade association presenting thousands of members across water parks, family entertainment centers, museums and suppliers can identify shared risks and exposures and build group programs where the good risks offset the volatile ones. It also creates a data channel: the member survey announced alongside the program will gather insurance needs across segments, which is the raw material carriers need to price the class accurately instead of conservatively.

Specialist knowledge is the other half. IAAPA says its specialists have expertise across segments including FECs, water parks, museums and zoos. An underwriter who knows what a foam pit is, what a court inspection involves, and how waivers and wristband systems work, prices differently from one who sees only an unusual retail tenant.

The mechanics a US member can expect, as listed in the release, are concrete. Insurance specialists who understand attraction operations, a dedicated point of contact based at IAAPA headquarters in Orlando, property and casualty coverage with employee benefits available, risk management resources developed with IAAPA, and a member survey that feeds carrier conversations. Those five pieces describe a brokerage service, not a policy. The policy still comes from a carrier, through Higginbotham, on terms that have to be read as carefully as any other quote.

What the program does not do deserves equal space. IAAPA has not published pricing, participating carriers or program structure, and this article will not speculate about them. A brokerage channel is not a guarantee of lower premiums; group programs can produce better terms, but the hard market dynamics described in section two do not disappear. The program is initially available to members in the United States only, and eligibility requires IAAPA membership. Operators in the UK, Europe, the Middle East or Asia, and non-member operators in North America, are outside its scope at launch.

6. The Underwriter Checklist: What Moves Your Quote Before Expo

Whether or not you join the group program, the factors that move a trampoline park quote are documented and consistent across brokers. Underwriters reward paperwork, in the plain words of the Insurance Center analysis.

Training logs. Court monitors trained on zone-specific rules, with dated records and refresher cycles. Recreation-worker wage benchmarks and supervision ratios are a cost topic we covered separately, but for underwriters the question is narrower: can you prove the training happened.

Inspection and maintenance records. Documented inspections of courts, pads, netting and mats on a fixed schedule. Padding and surfacing are the components underwriters and inspectors both look at first, and worn impact attenuation is the fastest route to a worse quote or a declined renewal. Keeping spares and a replacement cycle for park padding and accessories is cheap insurance in both senses.

Standards alignment. Designing and documenting the park against the standard that governs your market gives an underwriter a fixed reference: ASTM F2970 covers commercial trampoline courts in the US, EN standards and EN ISO 23659 govern European trampoline parks, and GB standards apply to projects in China. Standards do not translate into each other, and a park documented to one standard should not claim another. Our earlier article on landing zone design shows how zone geometry flows from the standard you commit to.

Incident reporting and waivers. Timestamped digital waivers and a structured incident reporting protocol. The Insurance Center lists these among the items that lower the number you get quoted, because they change how a claim resolves and therefore how the loss history reads.

7. Summary

On October 20, 2026, IAAPA entered the insurance brokerage business through a joint venture with Higginbotham, open now to US members and debuting at Expo on November 16–20. The move responds to a measurable market shift: family entertainment center general liability rates reported up 30% to 100% by one broker, major carriers declining the class, and surplus lines, where this business increasingly lands, tripling its share of commercial premium since 2000.

For a park owner, the practical reading is short. Insurance is a fixed cost that behaves like rent, not like marketing spend. A mid-size park buying a full program is looking at a broker-published range of $20,000 to $100,000 or more, which converts to roughly $0.32 to $1.59 per admission on our reference box, and a single claim can add hundreds of admissions of annual cost. A group program may improve terms for members, but the levers you control, documentation, standards alignment, maintenance discipline and claims hygiene, move your quote in any market. Those same systems also make your park safer to operate, which is the outcome both your underwriter and your guests are pricing.

8. Three Things You Can Do Today

1. Read the program details and join the member survey. The program information, survey and contact details are at iaapainsurance.com, and the team is at Booth S2853 at IAAPA Expo in Orlando from November 16 to 20. Membership is the only eligibility requirement.

2. Audit your documentation before your next renewal. Pull your training logs, inspection schedules, incident reports and waiver system, and read them the way an underwriter would. If your pads, netting or surfacing are due for replacement, price the equipment and refit process now rather than after the inspection.

3. Quote the renewal through a specialist. Whichever channel you use, a group program or an independent broker, get quotes lined up on identical limits, exclusions and rating basis, including a participant liability quote, before comparing prices.

Get a free design and quote →

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FAQ

How much does insurance cost for a trampoline park?

Broker-published guides put a mid-size park at $18,000 to $25,000 a year for general liability only at $2M/$4M limits, and $20,000 to $100,000 or more for a full program including participant liability, property and workers compensation. The ranges assume a clean claims history. Actual premiums depend on state, size, attendance, claims history and rating basis, and trampoline parks are typically rated on jumper-hours.

Does general liability cover a jumper who gets hurt?

Generally no. Standard general liability responds to third-party and spectator claims, but it typically excludes injuries to participants in the activity. Trampoline parks need a separate participant liability policy to cover paying jumpers, and adding a $2 million participant limit can roughly double the general-liability-only premium.

What is IAAPA Insurance Solutions?

It is a licensed insurance agency formed as a joint venture between IAAPA and Higginbotham Insurance Agency, announced on October 20, 2026. It offers property and casualty coverage, with employee benefits also available, to IAAPA members in the United States, and it debuts publicly at IAAPA Expo 2026 in Orlando, November 16–20, at Booth S2853.

Will the IAAPA program lower my premium?

IAAPA has not published pricing, so no claim can be made either way. The program aims to build group insurance plans and industry-specific underwriting expertise, which can produce better terms than a single park negotiating alone. But the market pressures behind rate increases, carrier pullbacks and litigation trends do not disappear, and membership is a requirement rather than a discount coupon.

Is IAAPA Insurance Solutions available outside the United States?

Not yet. The program is initially launching in North America and is available now to members in the United States only. IAAPA has members in more than 100 countries, and international expansion has not been announced. Operators elsewhere should work with brokers who write their local market and document the park against the standards that apply there.

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Sources

1. IAAPA, “IAAPA Launches Insurance Solutions for Attractions Industry in North America”, press release, October 20, 2026 — iaapa.org
2. IAAPA Insurance Solutions, program site, accessed October 25, 2026 — iaapainsurance.com
3. InterGame, “IAAPA launches Insurance Solution for North American attraction industry”, October 21, 2026 — amusementsandattractions.com
4. Theme Park Insider, “There’s a new way to insure a roller coaster park”, October 21, 2026 — themeparkinsider.com
5. The Insurance Center, “Utah GL Insurance by Industry”, October 16, 2026, citing its April 2026 trampoline park cost guide and August 2026 FEC premium analysis — theinsurancecenter.com
6. Insurance Journal, “Bigger Piece of the Pie: Surplus Lines Market Hits New Record”, September 8, 2025, reporting AM Best 2025 Market Segment Report data — insurancejournal.com
7. Teague S. et al., injury patterns at commercial trampoline parks, Pediatrics, 2024 — pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov