By Brent Carris, Research Assistant, Insurance Information Institute
On Sunday, June 3rd, the Governor’s Ball Music Festival (Gov Ball), a three-day event on Randall’s Island in New York, fell victim to the perils of inclement weather. After delaying set times by nearly seven hours, it was subsequently announced to the attendees that all were to evacuate due to the inclement weather forecast. What followed was a mass exodus of frantic festival-goers trying to get off the island.
Gov Ball organizers announced that they would be offering full refunds to everyone who bought a Sunday ticket (prorated if they had purchased a three-day pass). As 150,000 visitors flocked to Randall’s Island for Gov Ball in 2017, according to a Founder’s Entertainment white paper, this could result in roughly $19 million in refunds.
But the event organizers won’t be on the hook for the full cost of those refunds as they likely have event cancelation insurance. Event cancelation insurance typically costs 1 to 1.5 percent of the overall cost of an event, and provides cover for cancellation, abandonment, interruption or postponement of an insured event for reasons beyond the control of the event organizer.
In 2017, we witnessed the worst of a music festival gone awry with the infamous Fyre Festival (Fyre). While the Fyre debacle was largely due to the organizers’ lack of planning, the outcome taught mega-festival organizers what not to do and how to best prepare for uncontrolled disturbances.
Ideally, risk and claim specialists tour facilities far in advance to mitigate any potential dangers and to keep all attendees safe. Determining the size and type of insurance coverage means understanding the risks of the specific event.
As noted in this Insurance Journal article, mega-events like Coachella and Lollapalooza will take on at least five kinds of insurance policies: cancelation, including terrorism coverage, general liability, umbrella policies, workers’ compensation, and business auto coverage. Additional coverage can be bought for crime, errors and omissions policies, directors and officers’ policies, and if applicable, film insurance.
When all goes well, a music festival means great music with great friends. However, when weather doesn’t agree or emergency strikes, the result can be a calamity for the festival organizers and the attendees.