In order to ensure that the Sochi Olympics hockey tournament can proceed, the IOC is paying $8 million in coverage.
The International Olympics Committee is making insurance news at the moment as it faces a bill of an estimated $8 million in order to pay for adequate coverage in order to ensure that the hokey tournament can continue in Sochi, Russia, next year.
This announcement was made following what was called the world’s most expensive ball hockey game, in Calgary, Canada.
When the Canadian Olympic hockey team gathered in Calgary for their orientation meeting, the insurance news broke that they wouldn’t even be able to practice on ice due to the massive cost that insuring it would have generated. However, the head coach of the team, Mike Babcock, was still applauded by the team for holding a ball hockey game, instead, to help to give them the opportunity to gel as a team.
The pre-Olympics orientation camp had the opportunity not to skate following this insurance news.
Naturally, the real thing in Sochi will not have that same alternative. Hockey Canada and the IOC have both recognized that forgoing blades in favor of sneakers and shorts on an ice-free international sized playing surface was completely and entirely out of the question, but what of the massive bill that continues to make insurance news headlines?
Many people are confused by this insurance news, as this didn’t seem to be an issue in 2009, when the Canadian team didn’t seem to have any issue with coverage and went on to win a gold medal in Vancouver. The primary issue is with regards to the sum total of the contractual obligations of the gathered professional players.
In 2009, that total was worth an estimated $875 million. This was still a very high amount, but wasn’t nearly as great as this year’s insurance news making figure of $1.2 billion. That much higher number, in combination with a spike in coverage rates, means that the projected costs will be tremendously higher. The cost of the four day practice camp, alone, would have been approximately $1 million. In 2009, $400,000 was paid. To make sure that the games will go on in Russia, it looks as though the IOC will now be digging into its own deep coffers and footing the estimated $8 million bill.
