Why Wimbledon will get $141m payout after cancelling tournament due to COVID-19
While many sports organisers and associations across the world are already counting losses due to cancellation of sporting events over COVID-19 pandemic, organisers of the oldest tennis tournament in the world, the Wimbledon, look set to smile to the bank after the pandemic.
Due to the worsening situation of the pandemic which has infected over a million people across the world sports events were forced to suspend play leading to massive financial losses. Wimbledon one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open, will recoup almost half of its losses for cancelling the event.
Wimbledon was set to hold from June 29 to July 12 this year, but was cancelled for the first time since World War Two, due to the pandemic.
According to multiple reports, the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC), organisers of the tournament, paid $2 million pandemic insurance every year for the last 17 years and will receive a massive insurance payout after the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic insurance policy, according to Action Network sports business reporter Darren Rovell, will pay out an estimated $141 million following the decision to cancel Wimbledon,
Wimbledon organizers reportedly took the decision to seek a pandemic insurance to minimise financial loss after the SARS outbreak in 2003.
According to The Guardian UK, the organisers were hoping to generate more than $300 million in revenue from the 2020 Wimbledon tournament.
AELTC CEO Richard Lewis told The Guardian: “We’re fortunate to have the insurance and it helps. The insurers, the brokers and everybody involved have been excellent to work with so far, but there’s still a lot of work to do”.
