Fitness clubs rocked by Covid-19 closures face a swell of bankruptcies with more than $10 billion of revenue wiped out as clients ditch memberships, according to investment bank Harrison Co., Bloomberg News reported. In a Harrison survey of 1,000 fitness club users, more than a third said they have canceled or plan to terminate existing memberships. “There are 38,000 locations throughout the U.S., and about a third have a reasonably high probability of being shut down,” said Paul Byrne, an investment banker at Harrison who was formerly president at elliptical-maker Precor. A large number are “probably not going to make it through this.” Gyms already loaded with debt are facing long-term declines in revenue despite social-distancing measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus beginning to ease across the U.S. People are likely to continue shunning closely-packed fitness centers to avoid being in close proximity to other individuals even as the economy reopens, according to the report. The owner of the New York Sports Clubs chain and Gold’s Gym are among firms that have weighed bankruptcy or already filed.
