Pandemic Insurance: Lessons from Wimbledon's ace move

As a fallout to the Coronavirus pandemic, All England Lawn Tennis Club, the private club that provides the venue for the Wimbledon Championships, is all set to receive a whopping $141-million as an insurance payout. The 2020 edition of the Grand Slam event has been unprecedentedly cancelled due to the global virus outbreak. While, closer home, the Indian Premiere League, one of the biggest sporting events (in terms of brand value and viewership), could end up facing a financial loss.

Did Wimbledon organizers see it coming and already had a plan of action to cover a pandemic like Coronavirus, and others couldn't? For the answer, we will have to rewind back to 2002. Following the SARS outbreak years ago, the Club reportedly updated its Wimbledon insurance policy to include the infectious disease clause. This was something the All England Club's Risk and Finance Sub-Committee has insisted they include in their contracts for years now.

KEY LESSONS FROM WIMBLEDON's IRON-CLAD INSURANCE POLICY

Insurance is a must, howsoever invincible, or cash-rich you are in your business or in your personal lives. There is a cycle to life, where there are ups and downs, or be it business, where a boom or a depression is inevitable, insurance is something that definitely helps you create a safety net around you, your loved ones, and your business too.

1. Get yourself a raincoat, not an umbrella.
Get an adequate & well-rounded cover. AELTC, Wimbledon organizers, have roughly been paying $2 million per year for the last 17 years for the pandemic insurance. And, now with the cancellation of the current edition of the Grand Slam, they stand to get $141 million as compensation.

2.Insurance is not an unnecessary expense.
What might look like an unnecessary expense, saves you during your rainy days? The decision to get the sporting event insured finally pays off for Wimbledon, as the payout covers refunds for ticket holders and as well as those with television rights.

3. There is a cover for everything.
Get your risk listed. If you want, insurance can cover you for anything. The Club’s Risk and Finance Sub-Committee insisted years ago on getting epidemics coverage, paving the way for Wimbledon’s insurance policy to be upgraded with the clause.

PANDEMIC INSURANCE: INDIAN SCENARIO

While in India, a BCCI official on Thursday told a news agency that the market and the feasibility is something that must be taken into consideration before comparing Wimbledon to the IPL. Also, it needs to be seen if at all there is some clause like cancellation due to pandemic in the Indian market. According to some media reports, IPL has insurance against an act of terrorism and war.

Earlier AELTC released a statement saying, “It is with great regret that the Main Board of the All England Club and the Committee of Management of The Championships have today decided that The Championships 2020 will be cancelled due to public health concerns linked to the coronavirus epidemic. The 134th Championships will instead be staged from 28 June to 11 July 2021”.

The BCCI official said, "…insurance sector is very different from region to region. In the UK it has developed differently. The presence of some big reinsurers in the UK market coupled with the complexities and the maturity of the UK insurance market is the backdrop that one has to view while looking at the Wimbledon model being discussed.”

"You may see the emergence of this trend now but only after these companies are able to actually study the impact of this pandemic as they would need to assess the value of the premium for such a scenario." He added, that the trend in India may change with the effects felt due to COVID-19.