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I can’t say I enjoy watching my insurance debit orders fly off every month.

In fact, I will go one further and say I hate it, but it’s all part of being a so-called adult and on we soldier.

With sport around the world having ground to a halt, a reality which we may be living with for quite some time, some major tournaments are way out of pocket.

That isn’t the case for Wimbledon, however, with organisers having shown foresight after the SARS pandemic back in 2002 and 2003.

At that time, organisers took out pandemic insurance, costing around £1,5 million per year, and they’ve now been rewarded.

Google ‘Wimbledon’, and here’s what greets you:

More from Insurance Journal:

Paying out roughly £25.5 million (US$31.7 million) in premiums over that 17-year period, Wimbledon is set to receive an insurance payout of around £114 million (US$142 million) for this year’s cancelled tournament, “making it a very sensible investment,” said Ben Carey-Evans, insurance analyst at GlobalData, the London-based platform that provides data analytics and expert analysis about the world’s largest industries.

As a result, Carey-Evans said, Wimbledon is “one step ahead of most businesses by having insurance in place for current events.”

“Reputable sporting events, such as the Premier League and The Open [golf tournament], have been cancelled or postponed, causing the organizers to lose a lot of their investment,” he said.

Carey-Evans reckons we’re set to see pandemic insurance become commonplace, especially when it comes to large sporting events, as well as festivals and music events.

While Wimbledon organisers have cushioned the blow with that insurance payout, they’re not entirely out of the woods:

…data from GlobalData’s SportCal team shows that Wimbledon earns around $160 million in media rights, $151 million in sponsorship and around $52 million in ticket sales annually.

While it will save $38,7 million on prize money and more on staff wages, this still is a significant loss of income, despite the large insurance pay-out, Carey-Evans said.

Those events and organisations that take out pandemic insurance now can probably expect some rather pricey premiums, too.

If the last few months have taught us anything, it’s that many governments around the world don’t seem too skilled at recognising disaster shortly before it hits.

All the more reason for organisers to cough up and cover their bases.

[source:insurancejournal]