Wimbledon Officials To Receive More Than £100 Million After Its Cancelation

Last week, the grass-court major Wimbledon was called off for the very first time since World War II amid the coronavirus pandemic. After its cancellation, the Grand Slam is preparing to issue an insurance claim of more than £100 million.

The insurance policy of All England Club was updated in the year 2003. It was registered due to the concerns of the SARS outbreak. Over the past 17 years, the event has been paying around £2 million annually. Now, after the cancelation of 2020 Wimbledon, the grass-court major is insured to receive a sum of more than £100 million. It’s the only Grand Slam to hold an insurance policy which also inculcates a virus-related clause.

“The insurance will help protect the surplus” –  Wimbledon Official 

The Finance committee at All England Club has brought up this point, and the insurance has been upgraded from time to time. Despite the humongous financial loss this year, the tournament can sustain owing to its insurance policy.

This year Wimbledon forecasted to generate approximately £250m in revenue. In the year 2018, The Championships earned £254.8m.

“The insurance will help protect the surplus to an extent. I would say to a large extent,” chief executive Richard Lewis said. “Of course we’re fortunate to have the insurance and it helps, but it doesn’t solve all the problems. The details and the figure probably won’t be known for months.”

Since the end of the Australian Open this year, Lewis was spectacle about the occurrence of Wimbledon. “Since the middle of February, I had been thinking that the Championships were 50-50. It was clear that society and the world had much greater problems to deal with,” he said.

Wimbledon is the very first Grand Slam to get canceled this year, further the French Federation of Tennis, hastily rescheduled Roland Garros in September, and the US Open 2020 is unmoved from the tennis calendar.

Richard Lewis is optimistic about the North American hardcourt summer tournaments to get underway during the months of August and September this year.