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Touchline • Issue 18 • 7
Risk management was a key consideration and the organisers
had to spend a great deal of time convincing the insurers of
their own risk management capabilities. In short they had
to convince the Lloyd’s and the London market underwriters
who were approached that they could run an event of this
size successfully and that all the infrastructure and stadiums
would be ready in time.
The news has been full of stories of incomplete stadiums,
construction going badly wrong and sadly some loss of life
to those working on completing the projects on time. What
you may not know is that it was realised about 2 years ago
that the grand plans Brazil had for its infrastructure project
were not going to be realised in time. Brazil was running
over budget and out of time. The construction process was
halted and efforts were re doubled to complete the stadiums
on time leaving large road and bridge projects in some cases
literally half completed.
But as we now know the stadiums did get completed and the
World Cup has begun, and what a World Cup it’s been so far.
Goals galore and some great games.
As mentioned earlier the World Cup
had its issues with construction
projects running late and budgets
inevitably running over. A large free
to attend concert was planned on
the beach of Rio before the opening
ceremony featuring some major
global stars including Lady Gaga,
unfortunately this was cancelled
due to a lack of funds available even
though the insurance did get placed
with Sportscover and the Lloyds
market.
Sportscover also is an insurer of two
policies for Italian retailers both tied
to the success of the Italians at the
World Cup. Think money back off of
your latest TV purchase should Italy
achieve the either a certain number
of wins or reach the final. We also
have a similar promotion out of
Brazil, should they win the World
Cup. However being the favourites
we couldn’t insure that trigger on its
own, so they have to win the World
Cup and win every game inside the
90 minutes of normal time.
One risk we wrote was a money back offer should Germany
Beat Portugal in their opening game by 4 goals to 2. The final
score was 4-0 and, after Pepe was sent off, Portugal never
looked like scoring.
Finally and perhaps most interesting for us to work on
was a major UK electronics retailers promotion. In the UK
this company has been offering money off any electrical
item purchased during the promotional period which was
just before the World Cup started. Under the promotion,
purchasers could choose £10 off for every goal England
scored or £5 off for every goal Brazil scored. I know which
one I would have had! An insurance is in place to cover the
amounts should England score more than 7 goals and Brazil
score more than 14.
So, the role of insurance in the World Cup is not limited to
covering the event itself, or the players, but covers a whole
range of other promotions that surround a major event such
as this.