Eurogames 2020 Postponed

As most rowers are aware, a cascade of rowing regatta cancellations has occurred in the past 30 days around the world.

GLRF has been monitoring the Eurogames 2020 website for any updates. On 16 April 2020, the Eurogames 2020 organization announced the postponment of the event with no proposed or published future date. If you read the news announcement, it implies that the Eurogames 2020 organizing committee is hoping to bump their event into 2021, thereby pushing future Eurogames events further out.

Of equal importance is the legal terms of the status of the event: postponed and not cancelled. This affects any athlete who has registered and paid. In effect, it delays or prevents the automatic issuance of refunds. The language of the Eurogames 2020 announcement about refunds appears bewildering. They state that while the event is in the postponment status, there is no effect [change] on potential refunds. However, if you read their earlier news post, Eurogames 2020 did change the terms and conditions such that the regular cancellation deadline has been moved back to 30 June 2020.

Still confused? If we are correctly connecting the dots, an athlete who has registered may request a cancellation refund, if they want, between now and 30 June 2020. Reading the Terms section of the website, section 7, Cancellation Policy:

• if you cancel by 30 June 2020, you get a 50% refund of the 'participation fee' which is Euro 80 for EGLSF members and Euro 100 for non-EGLSF members. The terms do not address the sports fee, which for rowing is Euro 20. The terms seem to imply that sports fees, similar to purchased tickets, are non-refundable.
  
• if you cancel after 30 June 2020, you can get a 50% refund but only if you provide proof of illness.
  
• if the event is cancelled by Eurogames 2020 organizers, a refund of at least 70% of all fees will be made (implying that the refund could be more, and since they say "all fees," that might include the sports fees.)
  

Obviously, an event cancellation means a huge loss of income to Eurogames 2020 and that explains their deliberate use of the term postponment. This is no different than the San Diego Crew Classic which canceled their event this spring. In the Crew Classic email that was sent to vendors, they asked vendors to forego a refund and receive a 50% discount on a vendor booth for 2021. The Crew Classic organizing committee, while not sharing the actual financials, implied in their email that the event cancellation would have a massive financial impact on their organization and their ability to host the event going forward.