Fifty-four million Americans have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot as of last Thursday, and with that comes more people getting back to pre-pandemic routines, including going to the gym.

In January, Planet Fitness had its first net increase in memberships since the start of the pandemic. It now plans to restart marketing campaigns that were paused for a year.

Others have found creative ways to carry on operations.

• L.A. fitness studio Barry’s set up shop in the parking garage of the Beverly Center shopping mall so it could offer classes in an open-air setting.
• Startup BOLD offers small-group workouts in pods made from shipping containers. Another, Hydra Studios, offers well-ventilated private suites for workouts.

It’s not all green shoots, however. An estimated 6,000 gyms and fitness studios have closed, and many individuals have rediscovered jogging and cycling, as well as investing in home equipment. Peloton has struggled to keep up with demand for its stationary bike.

One survey found that 76% of respondents have tried working out at home during the pandemic, and 66% preferred it to the gym.

Congress is considering sending gyms a lifeline. Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House in February would provide $30 billion to gyms and other health and fitness facilities. It could be the push gyms need for a full-scale return to prominence.

Digital collectibles have taken the sports memorabilia scene by storm, and caught the NFL’s attention.

“We’ve taken a hard look about that market and where we intend to play in the future. The digital video [memorabilia] like Top Shot is interesting,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told Yahoo Sports.

Top Shot, a digital marketplace where NBA highlights or “moments” are bought, sold, and traded in the same fashion as trading cards has become a growing revenue stream for the league.

“NFTs in general, of which Top Shot is the first and a leader, could turn into a top three revenue source for the NBA over the next 10 years,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told USA Today Sports.

Last week, a LeBron James dunk highlight sold for $208,000. In the past 30 days, Top Shot has seen over $260 million funneled through its marketplaces, according to CryptoSlam.

Sorare, a soccer-based digital collectible firm, raised $50 million during a Series A funding round. Topps, a leading trading card manufacturer, is starting to tap into the industry as well — job posts state that the company is looking to add designers to create digital collectibles.

With Top Shot and Sorare establishing a foundation and Topps potentially entering the market, the NFL, America’s most-watched league, probably won’t be left out for long.

NBCUniversal wants to make USA Network relevant again, and offset the effects of parent company Comcast’s decision to shut down NBC Sports Network.

Once a hot primetime channel, USA has since lost value for cord-cutters who can stream live sports and entertainment, but NBCU is making an effort to build the cable network back up.

Some of the conglomerate’s live sports content that isn’t heading to Peacock will instead make its way to USA — NHL, NASCAR, and English Premier League broadcasts in particular.

“This will make USA Network an extraordinarily powerful platform in the media marketplace and gives our sports programming a significant audience boost,” said NBC Sports Group Chairman Pete Bevacqua.

USA could look to increase its pay TV subscriber fees because of the sports content being added to the network, according to Bloomberg.

Some are less optimistic that there’s anything traditional TV can do to retain its bleeding customer base.

“Sports won’t solve what ails these networks,” analyst Michael Nathanson told Bloomberg. “The core concept of tune-in entertainment on linear networks is no longer attractive to younger customers. So their reach is falling.”

Last year, broadcast networks and pay TV accounted for just a chunk of Comcast’s revenue — $21 billion of the total $103.6 billion in sales.

A sea change in European soccer is underway, with money flowing out from the East and in from the West.

From 2015 to 2018, likely following cues from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese investors bought majority stakes in Southampton, West Bromwich Albion, Inter Milan, Parma, and nine other clubs. Chinese investors also took minority stakes in teams like Manchester City and Lyon, and got involved in broadcasting and stadium deals.

Now, having barely broken in their owner’s chairs, many of those investors are reversing course.

• There are currently fewer than 10 European soccer teams with Chinese investors; in mid-2017, there were over 20. 
• The owners of Southampton and West Bromwich Albion, both Chinese billionaires, are reportedly looking to sell some or all of their stakes, as is Nanjing-based Suning Holdings Group, which owns Inter Milan.
• In September, the English Premier League canceled its broadcasting contract with PPTV, a subsidiary of Suning Holdings, just one year into a three-year, $700 million deal.

American investors are partly filling the void, having purchased Parma, Roma, ACF Fiorentina, Toulouse FC, and Burnley.

China is still pouring money into soccer, just within its own borders. Construction has started on a $1.7 billion, lotus-shaped soccer stadium in the Guangzhou province, and the country is believed to have ambitions to host the 2030 World Cup.