New Sports Cover a First For NZ Sporting Organisations

Sporting organisations can now ‘buy peace of mind’ for the value of their sponsorship with three brand-new insurance policies designed exclusively for the Kiwi sports industry – a first in NZ.

The policies, which can be purchased through private insurance brokerage Apex General, provide cover for a range of sponsorship costs including non-appearance, death, disability and disgrace, and performance bonuses.

Apex General Managing Director James McGhie says the sports cover is a very specialised area not previously offered in NZ.

“We have done a lot of research into this area of insurance cover and the only similar policies that you can get in NZ at the moment, you’ll have to buy through London or Australia. Now we’ve launched three products that are exclusively tailored for the NZ market, and that we think sports marketers and promoters, particularly those responsible for regional sports, will be very happy with – we work with a specific underwriter and these policies are only offered through Apex General.”

The new Apex General sports cover is designed with three key areas in mind: 1) non-appearance, which covers for if a sportsperson fails to turn up to an event causing financial loss to the organiser, 2) death, disability and disgrace, sport where the sports person has lost their reputation and is suddenly not worth as much in terms of sponsorship value and 3) performance bonuses, where a sponsor might decide to insure for those costs.

“We’ll ask all the standard questions, such as what’s the history of this person? What’s their character? What’s the age of the person, which is relevant from a medical perspective, and what the value of the sponsorship or associated costs are. All our policies can be custom-made for almost any situation and we are very thorough, because we want to ensure a satisfactory outcome for all our clients,” says McGhie.

The company also offers the same type of insurance for the film industry, which McGhie says is a little more advanced than the sports industry in NZ in terms of cover.

“Basically, we are covering the same thing as the sports cover – that is, high value individuals or people that you rely on to get that film made – which can be actors, directors or producers. In the event that something happens to them and they can no longer fulfill their commitments, and you’re still months away from getting the film finished, then you want to make sure that you have some kind of financial compensation in place for yourself and the rest of the cast and crew. It’s a safety blanket,” he says.

McGhie says that the new sports cover and film cover are for people who are looking to protect their investment.

“Sponsoring a sportsperson or making a film is very different to having a tangible physical asset like a house or business premises. You’re basically insuring a person of good nature and goodwill. If you’re a sports organisation and you’ve put $10m into marketing a sportsperson, and they fail to live up to their end of the bargain, then you’ve just lost $10m. So what we’re saying is, spend a little extra on insurance, and you can at least look at recovering those costs,” says McGhie.

“It all comes down to the sponsors of these individuals. If they’re happy to take the risk and lose sponsorship or the commercial value, then that’s up to them. But if they want to cover it, we’re saying – hey, there’s a product available that’s designed specifically for the NZ market now. We’re seeing a lot of young athletes who have a lot of disposable income do silly things, and plenty of cases where they have strayed off the straight and narrow path, so I think any good sponsor must weight up the risks vs the costs and make their decision from there.”

Apex General is a New Zealand-owned and managed business and part of the Sustainable Business Network (SBN).

For more information visit www.apexgeneral.co.nz