Wimbledon, ECB's Insurance Decisions To Pay Dividends

Wimbledon and the England & Wales Cricket Board are "expected to receive two of the highest insurance payouts in sporting history" when their claims for this summer are settled. Industry sources said that given the "extortionate cost" of insuring an event like Wimbledon because of the rain risk, the additional pandemic insurance could easily have been brokered at a price that would have made it "affordable and good value." It is understood Wimbledon’s pandemic insurance option was included in '03 after the Sars outbreak. By comparison, the French Open is "understood not to have such cover, hence their early decision to move the tournament to an autumn date." The ECB also has pandemic insurance, and the organization may "thank fate that the Sars outbreak caused them to invest in a suitable product" (INEWS.co.uk, 3/15).