
Coronavirus
Correct as of 31/03/2020 (www.bit.ly/3azIHPB)
June - The Championships (Wimbledon)
Following rumours and reports that the Championships was likely to be cancelled, on 1 April, the competition was officially cancelled - the first time in the events history other than during the two World Wars. Despite the delay in the announcement, the cancellation of the even seemed inevitable, due to the difficulty in playing the event on Grass courts outside of clear and dry weather conditions, which remain an uncertainty even in the British summer. Add to this the logistical issues around global travel which is a necessity for fans and players at the Championships whilst event organisers would have struggled also to reschedule the competition in an already busy tennis calendar, in part thanks to the US Open and postponement of the French Open.
$51.1 million
Slazenger ($3m pa)
Rolex ($4m pa)
USA – the Tennis Channel
2019 Prize Money
The cancellation is likely to substantially drain the Championships revenue, however it has been reported that the AELTC is protected by an insurance policy, expected to cover its suspension and its £41 million ($49.2 million) annual payment to the Lawn Tennis Association.
June/July - Tour de France
$60 million
Tissot ($1.5m pa)
Named Sport ($400,00 pa)
Official Suppliers:
Francaise des Jeux ($ 250,000 pa)
Official Supporters:
Xtra Total ($1m pa)
Regional Partner:
Grand Depart Nice 2020 Official Fan:
Technical Partners:
Norauto ($250,000 pa)
USA - NBC
Further financial losses can be attributed to the cyclists themselves, should the event itself get cancelled, with the Tour de France representing one of the biggest paydays on the sporting calendar for them and their teams. In 2019, winner Egan Bernal won €500,000 for taking the coveted yellow jersey, whilst the rider in a yellow jersey also earns €500 ($548) for every day spent in the jersey. In total the Tour de France offers €2,291,700 ($2,513,580).
July - European Championships
$159.7 million
$1.16 billion
Volkswagen ($7m pa)
Official Licensees:
Macron ($2.5m pa)
USA – ESPN & ABC & Univision
Whilst a number of social and local businesses are being heavily affected by the current health crisis, the loss of the major European soccer competition this summer will also have a significant impact on local businesses such as pubs, bars and restaurants. Carlsberg research has previously shown that hosting live broadcasts of such events can contribute to a 60 per cent uplift in sales. Events such as major continental championships in the most popular sports represents a huge opportunity for pubs to capitalise on trade, with soccer tournaments reportedly worth more than £60 million ($80 million) in the UK alone.
Across the ten host cities in France for Euro 2016, the collective regional economic boost totaled slightly over €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion). This financial impact shows that the European Championships saw Uefa’s profits almost double that which was generated in 2012, with the event in Ukraine/Poland taking only $724 million by comparison. The majority of this income is occurred through fan stadium expenditure, for which €840.7 million ($931.6 million) was earned. The economic impact felt across the cities ranged between €66 million and €221 million ($245 million), with Toulouse enjoying the lowest financial benefit, and Saint-Denis enjoying the highest. Outside of visitors to the stadiums on match days, the cities also benefitted from local fan zones, the lowest in Lens (39,000) and highest in Paris (468,000).
July/August - Olympics
$4.2 billion
Worldwide Partners:
Visa ($25m pa)
Gold Partners:
NEC ($20.98m pa)
Lixil ($24.48m pa)
Official Partners:
Toppan ($12.74m pa)
Mainichi (all news outlets - $10.25m pa)
Official Supporters:
Nomura
The Hokkaido Shimbun Press ($2.96m pa)
UK – BBC
From a media perspective, one of the biggest deals associated with the Games comes from networks in the United States, with Comcast’s NBC reportedly having paid $1 billion for the right to air the games, which forms part of a larger $4.38 billion deal which covers four Olympics, first signed in 2011. Whilst the broadcaster will retain media rights next year, and for the following Games in Paris, 2024, the network has previously stated that it sold more than $1.25 billion in advertising for this coming Olympics, which stands as a record for any broadcaster. Whilst this sounds like it would be a huge financial set back for the broadcaster, its CEO Brian Roberts has previously claimed at a conference “There should be no losses should there be no Olympics are [or if they are] cancelled” citing that NBC would be able to fall back on a comprehensive insurance policy which covers this scenario.
Looking at the effect postponement could have on its sponsors, Michael Lynch, a former director of sponsorship marketing for Visa, has claimed that all companies who have spent over $100 million in its partnership deal will face extreme difficulty and issues, with the Olympics typically representing a third of these companies sponsorship efforts. Total spend for 2020 Olympics currently stands at $1.298 billion, which looks set to be another Olympic record, with the previous Games in Rio (2016) and London (2012) generating $1.2 billion and $1 billion from sponsorship respectively. New brand sponsors such as Airbnb, which signed a $500 million 3-Olympic Games deal to become the IOC’s latest TOP partner, are also likely to suffer from the postponement, without the historic Olympic affiliation to successfully market. The IOC has however told its commercial partners that any deals set to expire this year will roll over and remain valid for the Games in 2021, with the Games expected to continue to be named and marketed as Tokyo 2020. The announcement by the IOC will come as reassurance to a number of the Olympic sponsors, especially Atos, Dow, Proctor & Gamble and General Electric, all of which have a TOP sponsorship deal expected to end in 2020. Two brands, Allianz and Mengniu (through a joint deal with Coca-Cola) will also see their agreements activated in 2021.
August - Premier League
$3.9 billion
Panini ($1.5m pa)
USA – NBC - $166.67m a year
Should the Premier League successfully be able to reschedule its remaining games for the 2019-20 season, this could then have a knock-on effect for the start of the 2020-21 season, which would likely see the organisations incur in more financial losses.
September - NFL
The NFL has benefitted somewhat from its annual scheduling which sees its games played throughout the Autumn and Winter months only, between September and January. As such, the competitions start date of 10 September 2020 is currently expected to continue as planned. Ongoing conversations between the NFL and media executives suggest that the original timetable is not expected to be adjusted.
$1,126 million
More than $5 billion
Campbell’s Soup ($2m pa)
Lowe’s ($5m pa)
USA – Verizon ($400m pa), Fox ($1.1bn pa), CBS ($1bn pa), NBC ($950m pa), ESPN ($1.9bn)
Whilst there are no certainties around how long the coronavirus will continue to impact the world, it would seem that the NFL’s autumn/winter schedule should see it less affected than other major sporting competitions. In the United States the NFL remains the biggest sporting attraction for fans, with other sporting leagues scheduled throughout the year when the NFL in not in-season. Because of this, the NFL typically enjoys somewhat unrivalled domestic competition for audiences, this said, any rescheduling across other major American sports leagues, could see future rescheduling problems in which the NFL will have more competition on tv ratings.
September - Ryder Cup
$16.45 million
Rolex ($2m pa)
On Location Experiences ($2m pa)
Scandinavia & Russia – Viasat (18-24)
The competition had a significant boost to the local economy of Paris, which saw 220,000 commercial bed nights, with eight per cent of visitors opting to stay beyond the golf action. In total more than 270,000 people attended the Parisian golf course.
October - NBA
Total Annual Media Rights Value:
$2.67 billion
Beats Electronic ($20m pa)
State Farm Insurance ($30m pa)
USA – ESPN & TNT
Outside of the impact that will be felt by brands and leagues, there will be a number of people hit vocationally by the leagues suspension. Whilst a number of players have already made donations to relief funds to aid victims of the outbreak, the leagues players also stand to lose out financially through the postponement. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the NBA requires a portion of a plyers salary to be held in a separate account, which is then equally divided between players and owners at then end of a season. Another contractual clause which could impact player salaries, is a force majeure clause which allows salaries to be reduced by 1/92.6th for every game cancelled. If the remaining 20.7 per cent of the regular season left to play was to be cancelled it would cost the average payer $1.5 million.
November - Formula E
$35 million
Bosch ($3m pa)
Select Chinese Broadcasters: CCTV, Weibo, Tencent & Youku
With any further postponements or cancellations to the racing calendar, Formula E is likely to incur greater financial losses in the same way as other global sporting competitions, through its sponsors and media rights partners looking to recoup compensation through force majeure clauses in their contracts.
Impact Summary
270,000 (people attended in 2018) x 240 (average price of ticket) = $64,800,000
Then add an estimated 30 per cent of sponsorship and media value ($17.85 million and $10.5 million)
Overall Impact Figure - $3.38bn