Conference & Meetings World Issue 101 — July / August | Page 45

Sports insurance Insurance allows a big event to take place, enabling organisers, fans and sponsors to invest in its success How to play it safe for the big event AS A TOP 3 GLOBAL SPORTING EVENT FAST APPROACHES, HOWDEN’S ROB BARRON OFFERS SOME THOUGHTS ON WHY THE RUGBY WORLD CUP 2019 WILL BE BUILT ON INSURANCE… he Rugby World Cup in Japan is being billed as the world’s third biggest global sporting event, but it isn’t only sporting excellence which will make it a success. As the likes of England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the All Blacks go head-to-head between 20 September and 2 November in 2019, the insurance industry will also play a huge part in making sure the tournament goes smoothly. All eyes will be on how Japan copes with hosting the tournament, not least because Asia has never staged a rugby union World Cup before. After all, it’s a huge opportunity to grow the sport at an event which is topped only by the Olympics and the FIFA football World Cup in terms of global reach. For the event owners, Rugby World Cup Ltd, it is vital that all potential risks are covered and mitigated – whether that’s injuries to players, freak weather conditions or even postponement, cancellation or abandonment of fixtures. In fact, insurance plays a huge part in allowing a tournament to even take place and enabling organisers, governing bodies, national unions, clubs, sponsors and fans to invest in its success. As long ago as 2010, Lloyds of London estimated that the total insurance for FIFA’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa amounted to as much as £6.2bn (US$7.89bn) - £3.2bn for stadia and training venues, and £3bn for linked business opportunities. Those figures did not include insurance Rugby World Cup 2015 Ticket sales: £250m (US$318m) Total attendance: 100m Global TV audience for the final: 120m Global uses of #RWC2015 online in the tournament: 5m Official app downloads: 2.8m across 204 nations RWC 2019 Participating teams: 20 Matches: 48 Venues: 12 Global sponsors: Emirates, Mastercard, Heineken, Land Rover, Société Générale and DHL ISSUE 101 policies applying to individual players in case of illness or injury. There’s little doubt that the RWC tournament in Japan, like South Africa back in 2010, will receive extra attention because of its geography and the potential size of such a lucrative market for sponsors. More than 400,000 fans are expected to visit Japan to watch the matches and the TV audience is expected to be well in excess of the 120m who watched the last Rugby World Cup Final, in England in 2015. There is big money at stake, too. Japan has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in infrastructure to make the event work for everybody – from stadia improvements to new roads. In 2015, ticket sales alone topped £250m, while online interest is expected to balloon this time, attracting a new list of high-level sponsorship. Profits from the event in the past have allowed World Rugby to invest £266m between 2016 and 2019 on a programme to grow the sport, including a successful programme to increase participation in Asia. Tournament director Alan Gilpin said: “Japan 2019 will be transformational for the sport in Asia, and our Impact Beyond 2019 legacy programme, run in partnership with the Japan Rugby Football Union and Asia Rugby, is well on course to smash the target of attracting and retaining one million new players to the sport via the Asia 1 Million project.” With so much at stake, insurance is clearly an important ingredient for everyone involved. If you are involved in a large event on a global scale, you may / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 45