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Major League Baseball and its 30 teams are suing their insurance providers, citing billions of dollars in losses during the 2020 season played almost entirely without fans due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawsuit, filed in October in California Superior Court in Alameda County and obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, says suppliers AIG, Factory Mutual and Interstate Fire and Casualty Company have refused to pay MLB’s claims despite the “all risk” of the league. “Police purchases.
The league claims it has lost billions of dollars on unsold tickets, hundreds of millions of dollars on concessions, tens of millions on parking and millions more on luxury seat suites and licenses, sales of merchandise in the park and corporate sponsorships. He also cites more than $ 1 billion in local and national media losses, plus tens of millions in missed revenue for MLB Advanced Media. He says all of these losses should be covered by policies.
MLB cut short spring training and postponed the start of its regular season to March, then began a truncated schedule in late July in which fans were kicked out of stadiums. The teams were limited to 60 regular season games, up from 162. Most of the playoff games were played without fans, although there was a limited capacity of around 11,000 per game for the Championship series. the National League and the World Series in Arlington, Texas.
“Due to COVID-19, Major League Baseball entities, including those of the 30 major league clubs, suffered significant financial losses due to our inability to play games, host fans and conduct normal business operations for much of the 2020 season, “the league said in a statement to the AP.” We firmly believe that these losses are fully covered by our insurance policies, and are satisfied that the court and the jury will agree. “
Messages seeking comment were not immediately returned by insurers.
According to data compiled by the Carey Law School at the University of Pennsylvania, more than 1,400 lawsuits have been filed against insurance companies over business interruption claims related to the pandemic. This includes several similar lawsuits by minor league baseball teams, whose season was completely wiped out when Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred called it off.
At least one of those minor league cases, filed in Arizona and run by the Chattanooga Lookouts, has already been dismissed due to a virus exclusion from politics.
In many cases, insurers have insisted that the financial losses caused by the coronavirus do not constitute physical loss or property damage. MLB claims the virus has led to both.
“The presence of coronavirus and COVID-19, including but not limited to coronavirus droplets or nuclei on solid surfaces and in the air of insured property, has caused and will continue to cause physical damage direct to material goods and ambient air in the premises “The coronavirus, a physical substance, has attached and adhered to the applicants’ property and in so doing altered that property. Such a presence also directly resulted in the loss of ‘use of these facilities.’ ‘
Many teams have laid off front office workers in response to the pandemic, and many are predicting a slow offseason for free agency players. Several clubs have already sacked top players as a way to save money, including when the Cleveland Indians turned down a $ 10 million club option on triple All-Star Brad Hand and the Cubs Chicago failed to offer famous slugger Kyle a contract. Schwarber, allowing the 2016 World Series champion to become a free agent.
MLB has not said whether spring 2021 training or the regular season will start on time.
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