Wimbledon’s $141 million insurance windfall

Wimbledon’s decision to take out a pandemic insurance policy in 2003 after the SARS outbreak looks to have paid dividends, with the All England Lawn Tennis Club to receive $141 million.

“Of course we are fortunate to have insurance – it helps – but it doesn’t serve all the problems,” AELTC chief executive Richard Lewis said last week.

“There are a lot of details to work through. The insurance will help protect the surplus to an extent, I would say to a large extent.”

The tournament was expected to earn about £250m in revenue this year.

Wimbledon has reportedly paid $2 million a year for pandemic insurance for the last 17 years, a total of $34m.

The AELTC scrapped the grass court Grand Slam for the first time since World War II on April 1 as the coronavirus wreaked further havoc on the global sporting calendar.

Wimbledon was due to run for two weeks from June 29, with Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep set to defend their singles titles.

Peter Rowe

Recent Posts

Sinner flattens de Minaur in runaway home start

Jannik Sinner took charge in front of his home crowd on Sunday, crushing ATP Finals…

4 days ago

Madcap Medvedev suffers temperamental Turin Finals loss

Daniil Medvedev went into meltdown mode on Sunday during a highly charged 6-4, 6-3 loss, with opponent…

5 days ago

Team Sinner considering skipping Monte Carlo

Jannik Sinner could well be missing from the opening European clay event of next season…

6 days ago

Davis Cup Final to mark Nadal goodbye to tennis

Rafael Nadal will bring down the curtain on his career next month as he plays his…

1 month ago

Wimbledon lowers the boom on human linecalling

Wimbledon on Wednesday brought an end to human linecalling at the most traditional of the…

1 month ago

Djokovic rolls Cobolli as Shanghai fights to restore order

Novak Djokovic returned to action after waiting tow days to play as the rain-hit Shanghai…

1 month ago