Through no one's fault, a local swim meet was recently cancelled in our area due to the northeast snow storm. This is the first time in my 8 USMS years I know of a meet being cancelled at the last minute (some past were cancelled with notice).
Several of our team members sent in registrations for the meet. Of course there are expenses with organizing/planning a meet that must be paid, but the meet directors have indicacted that no fees paid will be returned. Needless to say, this has upset some members, especially those paying more by entering the maximum number of events.
I ask what past experience others have had when a meet is cancelled at the last minute. Did meet directors make contingency plans, especially for winter meets? Were there partial refunds? (It would seem that some expenses would not exist - mailing results, officials, pool rental) Were other types of redress offered if money was not refunded? How did swimmers affected understand and accept their forfeit if any? Do host teams share some/all/none of the risk of hosting meets? How usual or unusual is this?
Charlotte Masters, North Carolina had a close call in which they almost had to call off a meet the next to last weekend in January. Fortunately the roads were clear and they were able to proceed with the meet. They emailed everyone they could and called representatives from each team to let us know the meet was on. Several years ago they did have to cancel a meet due to weather, but again they made every effort to call. They rescheduled the meet 2 weeks later and refunded any money to those who could not attend. Most meet entries in our area ask for an email address, day and evening phone, so swimmers can be contacted, especially for those who are traveling from out of state. I did not want to drive from Atlanta to Charlotte for nothing, so I called the meet director who was very easy to reach by phone. By the way that had a great meet in a very good 50 meter pool with ample warm up and down lanes.
If the meet was rescheduled then there should be no refunds (maybe a limited case by case basis). But if the meet is just cancelled then a refund is due. Seems like simple logic to me.
IMHO...
It would seem to reason that if upfront costs were incurred and a cancellation was made at short notice that a partial refund would be in order. Typically meets require a meet registration fee as well as a cost per event. Swimmers should be refunded the cost for the events they were not able to swim due to cancellation, unless, of course, there was a disclaimer on the meet registration form clearly stating all entry fees would be forfeit in the case of a cancellation.
I don't know of any indoor meets in the New York City area that have been cancelled due to bad weather (surprising, since snow is hardly unknown here), although we have had close calls. Several open water events have been cancelled, by order of the Coast Guard, because of bad weather or rough seas (including off shore hurricanes). But our open water events typically expressly disclaim refunds on the entry forms (some provide for alternate dates).
When I was a member of our LMSC board, we discussed adopting a policy regarding refunds, after one close call. What we found is that the issue is more complex than it appears. Most of the costs of the meet organizers are fixed and may be incurred whether the event takes place or not. The most obvious is that some facilities require a rental fee that may be paid in advance and be non-refundable. But other fixed costs are not so obvious. These could include lifeguard salaries (required by New York state law) or the cost of custom awards (which may not be usable for other events). At one cancelled open water event, the organizers had had event t-shirts made which obviously could not be used or sold.
Requiring refunds as a matter of policy would impose an unacceptable risk for many meet organizers -- some clubs could even be forced out of business. Even if insurance is available, the cost would likely raise the entry fee prohibitively. The board considered creating a "contingency fund" for cancellations, but, since I'm not on the board any more, I don't know if anything happened along those lines. Nevertheless, imposing that risk on meet directors (without such a fund) might very well result in fewer meets being scheduled.
I'm going to steal the following (edited) words from Dan Empfield, who first made these comments related to Ironman Utah, a triathlon that was altered to a substitute event due to adverse weather. I think that his words are right on when it comes to the issue of refunds...
We ought not to hold the meet hosts financially liable for "Acts of God" or disasters beyond their control, and it appears that our sport might benefit from a common protocol. I suspect there is an expectation on behalf of most participants that we'll get our entry fees back if the meet is called off. It's an expectation we ought not to have, and we ought to codify that sportwide.
Why do I believe this? Because our sport doesn't exist without meet directors, and all it takes to financially ruin an club or team or LMSC is one event in which money to produce it is paid out yet none of it is recouped through the entry fees. The hosts pays out every dollar, regardless of whether the event goes off or not. Further, if there are sponsors involved, the host will probably have to rebate some back to the sponsors if the event doesn't occur. If swimmers demand their money back, the hosts take a big financial hit. We've got some great meet hosts out there...what would happen if they are not longer there because of and Act of God and some overly-demanding entrants?
It is not enough that a host isn't legally required to refund the money. The host also needs to know (from the LMSC and the participating swimmers) that we won't expect the money to be refunded, because to do so would be only to hurt ourselves. The hosts need to know that the swimmers won't hold it against them the next time they organize meets.
In the meets that I have hosted as a meet director, I have never given a refund. (I haven't been asked for one, either.) There does seem to be an expectation that if you pay an entry fee but don't show up for the meet (or miss events), you forfeit your money. The same principle should apply here. I was also at the infamous Northwest Zone Champs where the times were "thrown out" from "official consideration", yet there were no refunds.
I swam in a two day meet where the first day was cancelled due to severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. First they cancelled the 1500, which was the first event, then shortly past noon they cancelled the whole day as the weather was no better and possibly even worse (if such was possible). The weather forecast held virtually no hope of clearing before evening. The next day the days events went off without a hitch.
The meet directors said that the timers and other volunteers were from the local Boys Club and doing it for a donation and that, if it was all right with the competitors, there would be no refund and that any money left over after expenses (pool rental etc.) would be given to the Boys Club. So far as I know, there were no objections to this.
We have one meet in Kentucky that is particularly vulnerable to weather (imagine a meet in January being subject to weather!). The first time the meet had to be postponed, they refunded the money to people who couldn't make it to the new date (and who requested a refund). Since then, they have always announced a potential makeup date, and stated their policy that refunds will not be given. You have to understand that just because a meet doesn't take place doesn't mean the host hasn't shelled out money. Often you have to pay the pool rental up front, and you don't get that back if the meet has to be cancelled. You may have other commitments that you can't get out of. It's a very nice goodwill gesture if the host gives a refund, but many times it's just not financially feasible.
