Ben Carey-Evans, insurance analyst at GlobalData, said Wimbledon has learned from the SARS outbreak.
“Wimbledon has shown it is one step ahead of most businesses by having insurance in place for current events,” he said. ”It has been paying around £1.5m per year in pandemic insurance since it took notice of the SARS outbreak in 2003.
“It has paid out roughly £25.5m over the 17-year period, and it is set to recover around £114m, making it a very sensible investment.”
According to data from GlobalData’s SportCal team, Wimbledon earns around $160m in media rights, $151m in sponsorship and around $52m in ticket sales annually.
It will save $38.7m on prize money, and more on staff wages, but this still represents a significant loss of income, despite the sizeable insurance pay-out. Insurance represents damage limitation for the competition, and it will find itself in a much stronger position than most other events in the world during this period.