Stuart WoodThe All England Tennis Club, organisers of the Wimbledon Championships, will receive a £114m insurance payout after being forced to cancel its 2020 edition due to Covid-19, it has been reported.
The Sunday Times initially reported the claim, which it estimated at £100m. Sports betting/news publication Action Network reported the figure at USD$141m (£114m).
The payout comes on the back of a standalone ‘pandemic insurance’ policy which the Club put in place in 2003, after the SARS outbreak.
It will go some way towards offsetting the financial impact of cancellation in 2020, which The Guardian estimated at £250m in an interview with Richard Lewis, outgoing Chief Executive of Wimbledon. Lewis will be replaced by Sally Bolton in August.
Figures from 2018 showed that The Championships had an annual turnover of £254.8m.
Speaking to The Guardian, Lewis said: “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. The insurance will help protect the surplus to a large extent. The details and the figure probably won’t be known for months.”