In this paper, to explore the current situation and future trend of the healthy development of China’s sports industry, the health evaluation index system of the sports industry was established by deconstructing the health dimension of the sports industry. The health evaluation model of the sports industry was constructed by using the entropy method and the multi-objective linear weighting method. The model was used to empirically analyze the characteristics and laws of the health of China’s sports industry from 2008 to 2017 and predict the health status of China’s sports industry in the next 10 years with the combination with the GM (1.1) model. The results show that the potential health degree of China’s sports industry exhibits a fluctuating growth trend, the actual health degree of the sports industry, and the health degree of the supporting environment in the sports industry show a steady growth trend on the whole. In the next 10 years, the health degree of China’s sports industry will maintain a healthy state in which the actual health degree and potential health degree of the sports industry will enter a healthy state in 2021 and 2024, respectively. In contrast, the health degree of the supporting environment in the sports industry is always in a very unhealthy state.

In order to promote the coordinated development of the sports and pension industries, it is of great significance to apply the theory of industrial integration to the study of the interaction mechanism of the sports and pension industries, but there is a lack of research in this area at present. This paper firstly constructs the evaluation system of the coupling and coordination development of the sports and pension industries. Secondly, based on the panel data of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2013–2017, this paper analyzes the coupling and coordination relationship between the sports and pension industries by using the entropy method and the coupling coordination model. Finally, the coupling coordination relationship between the two industries in the region in the next five years is predicted using the grey model (1.1), i.e. GM (1.1) model. The results show the following: (1) The development level of the two major industries in 11 provinces and cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is generally on the rise, and they have a high correlation. (2) The sports industry is more volatile than the pension industry, and the sports industry has become an effective path dependence to narrow the regional development differences. The sports industry has a weak driving role in the pension industry, while the pension industry has a greater role in promoting the sports industry. (3) There is a large spatial difference in the coupling coordination degree of the sports and pension industries in 11 provinces and cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which will remain in the next five years, though the evolution and upgrading speed of the coupling coordination level will be significantly accelerated.