A catastrophist from RMS, Gordon Woo, claimed the experiment was “a vindication.” The $260 million Golden Goal Finance Ltd. terrorism catastrophe bond was “oversubscribed when it was offered.” Interestingly because soccer is so popular in Arab countries Woo found a posting on a terrorist website saying, “too many people were watching soccer to get on with militant activities.”
Another factor for the analysis was the fact “there were a dozen soccer stadiums available for use by FIFA in Germany, so that if one facility was damaged, ‘there was an element of redundancy’ that would allow play to go on.”
FIFA could not find a less expensive insurance option than the $260 million bond. We might be seeing a similar bond in the 2010 South African World Cup.
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