Finance, event cancellations and Championship allocations were key topics on the agenda for the first day of the FEI Board meeting which is being conducted via videoconference, and will run for 3 days (23-25 June 2020)
With all the information currently available, the Chief Financial Officer presented a revised budget predicting a loss of CHF 8,229,000 for 2020.
“This figure reflected an estimated reduction in total revenues of CHF 26,620,000, which did not include the IOC contribution normally distributed in an Olympic year. A negative performance to date on the portfolio also was included in the forecasted loss for 2020. However, the loss in revenues was offset by a rigorous reduction in total expenses of CHF 20,753,000, including temporary unemployment measures for the FEI staff as well as the postponement or cancellation of all non-essential projects”
The CFO emphasised that while the overall loss was important, it did not threaten the short/medium term existence of the FEI and that the FEI would continue to seek cost saving measures to ensure minimal draw on the reserves.
The Secretary General updated the Board on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the FEI Calendar, with statistics to show per month and per discipline the number of competitions at events that had been cancelled up to 16 June 2020.
A total of 3,352 competitions had been cancelled so far, with 2,953 of these directly attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic. This amounted to approximately 50% of the competitions scheduled for 2020, with more cancellations expected in the future
So far, eventing has experienced 500 FEI event cancellations around the world with 470 of these attributed to Covid-19 (includes all competitions cancelled up to 16 June 2020)
A lengthy discussion on FEI Championships 2020 and all the related complications due to cancellations, potential postponements and changes of venues also took place with decisions on the allocations to be announced on Friday 26th June
