The piece on this thread is the culmination of a lengthy investigation into how two of Britain’s biggest sporting institutions are coping with the coronavirus outbreak from a financial aspect - and how it all comes back to the Sars outbreak and rain (1/7)

Turns out pandemic insurance (they call it ‘communicable disease cover’) is pretty rare. One large company went three years without selling one of those products. Another insurance CEO told me only 10 per cent of sporting event customers buy it. (2/7)

So basically, no one buys it. But why did Wimbledon and the ECB? Essentially, because of the weather. Yep, the rain has saved these two sporting bodies ££££. (3/7) Full story here:  https://inews.co.uk/sport/cricket/wimbledon-pandemic-insurance-england-cricket-ecb-coronavirus-covid-19-communicable-disease-cover-2538917

The explanation is that insuring tennis and cricket in the UK is extremely expensive because of the risk of washouts. (The roof x2 at Wimbledon helps but there is still risk and they are relatively new.) (4/7)

So when, after the 2003 Sars outbreak, a conversation was had between customer and insurer about pandemic insurance, they chucked it in for free (or as close to free as anything is when you pay £1.5m a year in premiums.) (5/7)

The payout will basically cover lost revenue, which for the most part is ticket sales. Wimbledon have almost all their ticket sales insured, the ECB only have men’s senior international matches on their policy. It does not appear that TV rights will come under it. (6/7)

This is a problem for the ECB, who have just started in February a £1.1billion deal with Sky Sports, who will not be getting much product for the foreseeable. Various options being explored but handing back cash is not out of the question. (7/7)