One U.S. company that has successfully utilized onshore captives is fitness-trainer CrossFit, which boasts a network of approximately 3,000 affiliated gyms in the U.S.—more than 1,500 of which are involved in the company’s voluntary risk-retention group, CrossFit RRG.

CrossFit needed Specialty insurance to cover claims stemming from Rhabdomylysis, a blood disease in which skeletal muscle tissue breaks down rapidly in response to extreme exercise. CrossFit RRG, domiciled in Montana, offers a Commercial General Liability policy attached to Professional Liability. CrossFit affiliates that opt in to the program pay a minimum annual premium of $1,350 to start, with bigger gyms paying $5,000 to $15,000 yearly.

“Our RRG was created as a risk-management tool for our affiliates,” says Eric Reingen, vice president of Nexo Insurance Services, which administers CrossFit RRG. “We thought insurance companies wouldn’t want to write our gyms because of the risk of injuries when CrossFit was first started, but typical companies wound up competing to cover us. But having a captive gives CrossFit and its affiliates control of claims and better brand protection and provides broader policies compared to the restrictive ones that other companies have offered our community.”