Super Bowl insurance: “More than just a game”

With a game shaping up as a powerhouse versus underdog affair, Sunday’s Super Bowl LI is the latest incarnation of a spectacle redefining the word fanfare.

The scheduling of Lady Gaga’s rooftop performance during its halftime show was subject to an entire day’s worth of watercooler insurance news and the non-stop, entertainment extravaganza provides ample opportunities for insurers.

Sports Insurance covered one of the many weekend-long Super Bowl-branded recreations when the game was played in Indianapolis in 2012.

“We insured a zip line going over the Super Bowl mall, where everyone gathers, there’s so many different things going on, pick a piece,” Mark Di Perno, president of Sports Insurance said.

“If you’re looking at general liability…it’s not just the stadium, it’s the city that has requirements, they want to be named because of all the activities going on around town. It’s more than just a game.”

Staging the lead up to the game involves the host city throwing multiple events that would ordinarily feel like standalone celebrations given their size.

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Yet after all the excitement has been exhaustively built up, kick off happens and the fans cheer.

So what position does the provider play once the anthems have been sung and the military flyover has passed?

“The players themselves are covered under workers’ comp,” Di Perno said.

“If you’re looking at a semi pro team or a pro team, depending on the state, they rate it the same. So if your guy is playing in a shoe lace money type league, the owners are still required to pay the same rate as the other guys.

Di Perno explained that workers’ compensation wouldn’t work out to the same amount between leagues because of the salary difference, but the rate would remain the same.

“These teams all have their own medical facilities…they have X-ray machines and scanners,” Di Perno said, “unlike in the ACC or the Bell Centre (Canadian pro hockey arenas) where they throw them on a stretcher and send them to a hospital.”