If you’re like us, the last week has felt like a year’s worth of news and announcements as everyone grapples with the full scope of COVID-19 and how the coming months might play out. We’ve created this post as a place for us to display all of our updates with relevant information for SWIAM users as it becomes available.

It goes without saying that the most important thing right now is for people to follow the advice of health authorities and experts. In most cases where Sports Where I Am users are, this involves practising social distancing wherever possible.

The most recent updates will appear at the top. We’ll aim to provide a new update at least once a week.

March 16th email (sent to SWIAM customers)

COVID-19 and your SWIAM booking: Another update

Hi again,

I hope everyone is coping well and navigating the onslaught of information from over the weekend. We wanted to provide a brief update on your SWIAM booking based on the latest communication from the world’s biggest leagues. 

Firstly, below is a link to some official statements from major leagues:

• NBA: Suspended games until April 11. Missed games may be either re-scheduled or cancelled.
• NHL: Suspended indefinitely. Missed games may be either re-scheduled or cancelled.
• MLB: Games pushed back 2 weeks to April 9. Missed games aim to be rescheduled. 
• EPL: Games suspended until April 9. Aim to reschedule games.
• La Liga: Games suspended for 2 weeks. Aim to reschedule games.
• NASCAR: At this stage not affecting our customers.
• ATP Miami Open: Cancelled – full refund.

What does this mean for my game?

If your game has already occurred or is due to be affected by the league’s directive, we need to wait for clarification as to whether your game will be cancelled or if your game is re-scheduled to a new date. Until the various leagues are able to provide more clarity on their next steps and process, it’s not possible for us to create and begin implementing a plan of our own.

If your game is scheduled to occur after the affected periods mentioned above, we assume that your game is still planned to go ahead until we hear otherwise. 

If the game gets postponed, I will no longer be able to attend. Will I get a refund?

Until we have clarification from the league we will not know whether your game will be classified as a cancelled or re-scheduled game. 

In the instance the league confirms it will be a cancelled game, you will receive a full refund. 

In the instance the league confirms it will be re-scheduled to another date, this is not a situation in which we’d usually offer a refund, as your tickets are still valid for the new date. In most scenarios, it’s not possible for us to know whether our customers will be able to attend the re-scheduled game, so it’s not something we provide refunds for. 

However, this is a unique and unprecedented situation. Most of our customers are travellers, and we anticipate a lot will no longer be able to attend new dates if the leagues decide to re-schedule these games to a new date rather than cancel them. So once we have clarity from the leagues, we will advise the steps our business will specifically take for our customers to see if we can provide over and above services in addition to the official positions of the leagues. 

I want to discuss this further.

I hope you can understand that this is the first time we’ve ever had to handle anything like this, so we are trying our best to do it in the most considered way possible. If you are unclear on any of the above, or you would like to chat to me directly, please book in a time that suits you for this week and I will call you to discuss your specific circumstances. 

(Note: A link was provided for customers to book a consultation time)

I hope this is clear, but please let me know otherwise. I want to re-iterate that we are aware and understanding of the impact this is having on your bookings and we will continue to be here to answer any questions you have.

Thanks,

Matt Scully
CEO of Sports Where I Am

March 12th email (sent to SWIAM customers)

COVID-19 and your SWIAM booking

Thanks for booking your upcoming game with Sports Where I Am. We appreciate you trusting us with a big part of your travel plans. 

I wanted to touch base again as I understand you may have questions regarding the potential impact the Coronavirus might have on your upcoming game, including developing stories such as suspended, postponed or cancelled games across different leagues.

As you can hopefully appreciate, we are dealing with a constantly moving, unique situation at the moment, and we are doing our best to seek clarity for our customers as soon as we possibly can. 

We are working with our partners to understand what the process and timeline will be for any game that has been affected. 

It may take some time to get all the answers, but I wanted to let you know that we are chasing this for you and we will provide answers as soon as possible. It means a lot to us that you have chosen our company – we won’t take this for granted.  

In the meantime if you would like to ask me further questions please feel free to email me here. 

We really appreciate your understanding and patience during this time. 

Hopefully we can get back to experiencing sport again soon enough. 

Thanks,

Matt Scully
CEO of Sports Where I Am

March 10th email (sent to all SWIAM email subscribers)

Travel plans impacted by COVID-19

Hey Sports Where I Am team,

We’re keeping a close eye on the impacts COVID-19 (Coronavirus) may have on our customers’ travel plans. With a number of sporting events affected to date, we have provided an update on the situation below.

A summary of affected Sports Where I Am events

• Italy: All sport in Italy will be suspended until April 3. 
• China: The Chinese F1 GP, scheduled for April 19 has been postponed. 
• Qatar & Thailand: The Moto GP have moved their first 2 races of the season in Qatar and Thailand to later in the year.
• Singapore: The Rugby 7’s event in Singapore has been postponed from April to October.
• USA: The combined ATP and WTA events in Indian Wells, California, have been cancelled.
• France: Paris St Germain’s Champions League last 16 match against Borussia Dortmund on March 11 will now be played in front of no spectators. 

We will continue to keep you updated if other events are impacted going forward. 

Common questions from Sports Where I Am users

What happens if I have purchased a ticket to an event that is cancelled or played in front of no fans?

If you purchased a ticket to a game that is no longer going ahead or is now being held in front of no spectators, you will receive a full refund. 

What happens if I have purchased a ticket to an event that has been postponed to a time I am not travelling? 

Normally this situation does not warrant a refund as it’s hard for us to predict if a game will be re-scheduled. However, given the current unique circumstances, we will work with you to see if we can come up with a solution for your trip. I must stress that this will not always be possible, but we will do our best to work on a solution relevant to your situation. 

What if I have cancelled my trip, but the event is still going ahead?

In this situation, we unfortunately cannot refund the ticket. We do however acknowledge the unprecedented situation and we would like to help you wherever possible. If you are therefore in this situation, we will attempt to recoup as much of the cost as possible with our supply partners. There is no guarantee we will be sable to achieve this, but we will make this attempt on your behalf. Please let us know if you are in this situation. We also advise to check the travel insurance policy you have taken out for your trip to see what cancellation costs are covered. 

Planning for upcoming travel

We advise to check the appropriate local authority (such as smartraveller.gov.au updates) for any upcoming travel plans. If you book an event that is cancelled or played in front of no fans, you will receive your money back in full. If you book an event that is postponed, we will work with you to make the most of this situation.

We understand there may be further questions so if you would like to chat to me or one of our team, please send us an email here and we will contact you ASAP. One of the many things I love about sporting events is their power to unite us – in times like this we can be assured sport will continue to bring us all together.

Kind regards,

Matt Scully
CEO of Sports Where I Am

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