NAICS sector 71 · 891 financed acquisitions
$756MCapital deployed
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
Since FY2019, 891 businesses in this sector were bought using an SBA 7(a) acquisition loan, together carrying $756M of bank debt. The median deal was financed with $408,600 over 10 years at 8.00%.
Volume and price
What businesses in arts, entertainment, and recreation financed by an SBA 7(a) acquisition loan actually cost, and how many of them there were.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA loan-level extract, change-of-ownership approvals, FY2019 onward. Data as of 30 June 2026. n = 891 financed acquisitions.
| Size band | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $250k | 287 | 32.2% |
| $250k to $500k | 207 | 23.2% |
| $500k to $1M | 158 | 17.7% |
| $1M to $2M | 125 | 14.0% |
| $2M to $3.5M | 79 | 8.9% |
| $3.5M to $5M | 31 | 3.5% |
| $5M and above | 4 | 0.4% |
| All | 891 | 100.0% |
The 7(a) programme caps a single loan at $5M, so the top band is a ceiling of the instrument, not of the market. Deals above it are financed conventionally and do not appear in this file at all.
How the paper was structured
Loan terms here are not spread smoothly. They spike at exactly ten years and again at exactly twenty-five, with very little in between. Those two points are the programme's maturity ceilings, and which one applies depends on what secures the loan, so a term running past ten years indicates real property was financed alongside the business.
| Term | What it indicates | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 years | Shorter than the goodwill maximum | 161 | 18.1% |
| Exactly 10 years | The standard goodwill-only note | 533 | 59.8% |
| 10 to 20 years | Mixed collateral | 61 | 6.8% |
| 20 years and over | Real property financed with the business | 136 | 15.3% |
59.8% of loans here run exactly ten years and 15.3% run twenty years or more. n = 891 loans with a recorded term.
What happened next
Two outcomes are visible in the file: approvals that never funded, and funded loans that later charged off. Both are facts about deals, not forecasts.
The charge-off share is cumulative as of 30 June 2026 for loans approved in FY2019-FY2021. Those loans are five to seven years into terms that are usually ten years, so the figure is a floor and the lifetime rate will be higher. It is not comparable to a rate computed over a fully matured cohort, and the site does not publish one for later years for that reason.
By fiscal year
* FY2026 is incomplete. The extract closes 30 June 2026, nine months into a fiscal year that ends 30 September, and some FY2026 approvals have not yet disbursed. Do not read the last column as a decline.
Industry groups inside this sector
A sector median hides a lot. These are the four-digit groups within it that clear the reporting floor on their own.
| Industry group | Acquisitions | Capital | Median loan | Median rate | Median term | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7139 Other Amusement and Recreation Industries | 785 | $629M | $388,000 | 8.00% | 10 years | 9.7% |
| 7113 Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events | 28 | $39.0M | $957,500 | 8.50% | 10 years | 12.5% |
| 7131 Amusement Parks and Arcades | 25 | $39.1M | $1,320,000 | 8.75% | 10 years | 19.4% |
Where this sector changes hands
States with enough deals in this sector to report on their own.
| State | Acquisitions | Capital | Median loan | Median rate | Median term | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TX Texas | 77 | $51.9M | $348,000 | 8.60% | 10 years | 9.4% |
| CA California | 53 | $49.9M | $502,700 | 8.30% | 10 years | 17.2% |
| FL Florida | 47 | $50.6M | $667,000 | 7.75% | 10 years | 14.5% |
| GA Georgia | 38 | $30.1M | $466,000 | 7.38% | 10 years | 5.0% |
| MI Michigan | 38 | $25.0M | $448,000 | 8.25% | 10 years | 2.6% |
| MN Minnesota | 37 | $22.0M | $324,700 | 8.00% | 10 years | 5.1% |
| WI Wisconsin | 36 | $24.6M | $278,350 | 7.25% | 10 years | 2.7% |
| NJ New Jersey | 34 | $33.4M | $683,550 | 8.25% | 10 years | 15.0% |
| OH Ohio | 32 | $26.5M | $407,850 | 9.50% | 10 years | 11.1% |
| NY New York | 31 | $24.1M | $400,000 | 7.75% | 10 years | 20.5% |
| PA Pennsylvania | 30 | $26.0M | $425,000 | 8.40% | 10 years | 11.8% |
| IN Indiana | 30 | $26.1M | $282,500 | 7.50% | 10 years | 6.2% |
Concentration
| State | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| TX Texas | 77 | 8.6% |
| CA California | 53 | 5.9% |
| FL Florida | 47 | 5.3% |
| GA Georgia | 38 | 4.3% |
| MI Michigan | 38 | 4.3% |
| MN Minnesota | 37 | 4.2% |
| WI Wisconsin | 36 | 4.0% |
| NJ New Jersey | 34 | 3.8% |
| OH Ohio | 32 | 3.6% |
| NY New York | 31 | 3.5% |
| PA Pennsylvania | 30 | 3.4% |
| IN Indiana | 30 | 3.4% |
| Lender | Acquisitions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Live Oak Banking Company | 84 | 9.4% |
| The Huntington National Bank | 58 | 6.5% |
| First Internet Bank of Indiana | 15 | 1.7% |
| Byline Bank | 13 | 1.5% |
| Stearns Bank | 12 | 1.3% |
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company | 12 | 1.3% |
| Celtic Bank Corporation | 12 | 1.3% |
| Pinnacle Bank | 12 | 1.3% |
| Northwest Bank | 9 | 1.0% |
| Truist Bank | 9 | 1.0% |
A lender without a link wrote fewer acquisition loans than the reporting floor and has no page of its own. Shares are of the 891 financed acquisitions in this sector.
What to read next
If you are selling
Thinking about selling
The figures above describe arts, entertainment, and recreation businesses at the size the 7(a) programme reaches. They describe a market, not your business. FIH advises owners of privately held companies on sale processes, and the first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
If you are buying
Register what you are looking for
FIH is an advisory firm that generally acts for sellers, so registering here does not make you a client and no business is listed or offered for sale on this site. It records what you buy, where, at what price you can transact and how a purchase would be funded. It is free, it commits you to nothing, and no deal flow is promised in return.
Figures on this page are SBA loan amounts, not sale prices. Nothing on this site is an offer, a solicitation, a valuation of any business, or investment advice, and no statement here promises a transaction, a price or a result.