SXSW Cancelled Due to Coronavirus

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/06/sxsw-cancelled/

by estreeper • 6 years ago

188 69 6 years ago

It was only a matter of time and happening all over the country. F8, GDC, HIMSS, Ultra Music Festival, etc etc. Its for the greater good.

birdyrooster• 6 years ago

It's all about the greater good.

jgalentine007• 6 years ago

The greater good...

xwdv2• 6 years ago

WWDC will also be cancelled.

AdamJacobMuller3• 6 years ago

Very likely, but, I don't think they have to announce that yet. We're 2 months out.

xwdv2• 6 years ago

Nothing will happen in 2 months that suddenly makes it safe to hold an event of that size attended by developers from all across the world. It’s over.

_ph_• 6 years ago

WWDC would have to be announced first to be cancelled. Of course, everyone expects it for June, so also the likelyhood is large, that it is "cancelled" or rather converted (as it never got officially announced) into a on-line event.

AdamJacobMuller3• 6 years ago

I'm speculating their insurance coverage only kicked in if they were forced to close.

chrisseaton• 6 years ago

They're likely not covered at all - pandemics are usually considered to be acts of God.

bsder• 6 years ago

I'm speculating their insurance coverage only kicked in if they were forced to close.

SXSW was definitely not going to cancel until forced.

The more important piece than insurance, I suspect, is that they don't have to give full refunds now. It also probably means they can unilaterally cancel contracts.

adrianmonk• 6 years ago

An article from "Variety" (https://variety.com/2020/music/festivals/coronavirus-ultra-s...) covers exactly this and agrees:

But he understands the hesitance to cancel — because even if most major promoters probably spent extra to have communicable disease provisions in their cancellation insurance, it wouldn’t likely kick in if they made a unilateral decision to cancel without the city forcing their hand to do so.

In the above, "he" refers to an "entertainment manager" at an insurance company. Doesn't sound like firsthand knowledge, but it's still a very educated guess.

ProfessorLayton• 6 years ago

One interesting tidbit here is that the mayor made the call to cancel the event, not SXSW themselves. I understand the organizers stand to lose _a lot_ from cancellations, but this still seems like bad optics.

Unrelated, but I have three big events I booked long ago that I'm either becoming weary of attending, or fear that they will be cancelled and I'll be on the hook for the hotel and other accommodations. One of them is at SF chase center (19K capacity) and SF recently announced infections. Not a good time to be a fan of live events.

EDIT: Here's an interesting twitter thread that gives an isight into what smaller event organizers are going through due to the coronavirus https://twitter.com/jessiechar/status/1235685514667126786

cloakedarbiter• 6 years ago

Here was SXSW's statement on the cancelation.

The City of Austin has cancelled the March dates for SXSW and SXSW EDU. SXSW will faithfully follow the City’s directions. We are devastated to share this news with you. “The show must go on” is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place. We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation. As recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Health stated that “there’s no evidence that closing SXSW or any other gatherings will make the community safer.” However, this situation evolved rapidly, and we honor and respect the City of Austin’s decision. We are committed to do our part to help protect our staff, attendees, and fellow Austinites.

https://www.sxsw.com/2020-event-update/

Trasmatta• 6 years ago

I find their statement a bit irritating...they're basically saying "if it weren't for the city, we would have still done it, screw any consequences".

yourapostasy• 6 years ago

Could the city announcing the cancellation yield the organizers a more favorable insurance payout? I've heard of some event insurance policies treating pandemics as Acts of God, and will not pay on a pandemic forcing a cancellation or closure. Would be very interested in hearing the insurance industry's justification for that position.

johnzim• 6 years ago

They normally justify it by requiring you to take out an additional premium for such coverage rather than just skip out on it by force majeure. At least that's the way it's done in other countries.

shreyshrey3• 6 years ago

What I am hearing is SXSW cannot get the insurance payout if they unilaterally cancel the event. Thatswhy they have waited the city and Austin Public Health to make the decision for them. Same thing with SaaStr as well - They waited for the Santa Clara county to make the decision.

jonknee• 6 years ago

That's the rumor, but the statement they put out was absolutely ridiculous and in no way required for insurance. The organizers were willing to put people at risk for profit.

shreyshrey3• 6 years ago

Just got this email from SXSW: https://www.airsend.io/images/sxsw_deferral.png

2020 registrants can opt to defer to 2021,2022 or 23

crazygringo• 6 years ago

To the contrary, this is a decision that impacts the entire city, involving many, many people. The mayor is the right person to make that holistic, wide-ranging call.

It's not bad optics at all. This is a public decision that is most responsibly taken by public officials.

fourmyle• 6 years ago

Can’t wait to buy hospitality stocks in a few months.

RegnisGnaw• 6 years ago

Interesting that the official announcement makes no reference to refunds of tickets.

cryptozeus3• 6 years ago

They are not refunding, saw few threads on twitter about that.

shreyshrey3• 6 years ago

What? How can they do that?

lostgame• 6 years ago

No refunds, no exchanges. I sense a class action lawsuit.

excerionsforte3• 6 years ago

SXSW was really bent on going through with this massive event even though smaller events were being cancelled. The spread would likely happen through multiple contacts in airports and since there is a delay in symptoms if any, SXSW woould, in the worst case, been a super spreader event. You could bet lawsuits would have rained on them and likely the City of Austin.

Sometimes, you just got to say no, we will not contribute to spreading this disease inadvertently and take the hit. SXSW organizers are unbelievable.

To the people only thinking of themselves about this just being a "flu", I read this yesterday: https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/1235015662117908481 It is not just about you. He pulled out of events because he wanted to limit contact to avoid spreading it to a vulnerable loved one.

komali2• 6 years ago

What standing would an infected person have against SXSW or the city of Austin?

excerionsforte3• 6 years ago

Your government at all levels are responsible for public safety. If you harm public safety (in)advertently, you can definitely expect lawsuits your way. Lawsuits are a matter of dispute. It does not matter if one "wins" or "lose".

bg4• 6 years ago

I thought they were waiting for the city to cancel it for insurance reasons.

randall• 6 years ago

That will be what seems to have happened.

excerionsforte3• 6 years ago

If that has been confirmed. Do you have proof?

txcwpalpha• 6 years ago

Nope. Apparently their insurance does not cover it.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2020-03-06/sxsw-c...

TrueDuality2• 6 years ago

I suspect they waited too long to do it. I suspect a very large percentage of the people that were going to attend have non-refundable plane tickets, have already arranged time off from their jobs, etc and will still be coming to Austin... I guess time will tell.

godzillabrennus• 6 years ago

All airlines are refunding penalty free as credits toward a future flight.

Everyone on Wall Street is preparing for a catastrophic economic collapse from this.

American Airlines is likely to go bankrupt.

cryptozeus3• 6 years ago

“Cancelling SXSW represents about $350M in lost revenue for the city of Austin. This is an enormous act of civic responsibility”

cryptozeus3• 6 years ago

No refunds will be given

“#SXSW replied me saying they won't refund me Frowning face or exchange for 2021. For Brazilian standards the price of the ticket is VERY expensive and I'm cancelling my trip due to concerns related to coronavirus. I think they should refund me and the participants that decided not to attend”

jmvoodoo• 6 years ago

I'm sure if you used a credit card you'd have no problem getting an involuntary refund from SXSW. After a few thousand of those I'm sure their stance would change.

wuunderbar• 6 years ago

You only have a 3-6 month window with most credit card providers to be able to initiate charge backs.

So it very much depends on when you bought the retail ticket.

pcurve• 6 years ago

Did you try canceling before the official cancellation announcement?

If they're not issuing refund after the cancellation announcement, then they're finished. No more SXSW next year.

s9w• 6 years ago

How could that possibly be legal? You don't get the thing you paid for.

stingraycharles• 6 years ago

There are often clauses in these type of agreements about natural disasters. Of course I’m speculating, but it’s entirely plausible something like this applies here. Especially if it was ordered by the city, rather than the organizers.

zaroth• 6 years ago

I think it's very interesting the disproportionate reaction that a virus or disease gets versus any other number of things that people risk their lives doing on a daily basis. Particularly for lesser known viruses or diseases which our brains haven't acclimated to.

The CDC estimates that 31 million Americans caught the flu this year, resulting in about 200,000 hospitalizations, and between 12,000 - 30,000 people have died this season from flu-related complications. So as a rule of thumb you could say 10% of America infected, ~1% of those people are hospitalized, and 10% of those people die. Every year.

Do we close events during the winter because of the flu? Of course not. We would never be able to have a winter-season event ever again. The flu vaccine is not particularly effective, some years it's even almost entirely ineffective, although most years about 50/50...

I'm still of the (clearly unpopular) opinion that the response to COVID is 1 part science, and 3 parts hysteria.

At the gym today I heard a great saying. Almost 3 million people die every year from obesity. Maybe instead of yelling at everyone to wash their hands, we should be yelling at everyone to eat a damn salad. SXSW is substantially less hazardous to the public health than McDonalds.

Why is the response to this coronavirus so hysterical? You could come up with any number of fatality stats that have taken more lives since January than COVID-19. Lower respiratory infections (not COVID related) kill approximately 200,000 people a month. Malaria kills 50,000 a month. Even just driving kills 100,000 people a month.

Rather than thinking SXSW organizers are unbelievable for not canceling, I think that the Mayor/City of Austin is unbelievable for canceling. Anyway, I just got back from a trip to Orlando, and Disney World and Universal, while not packed, certainly seemed busy.

The CDC should do what they are setup to do; ensure that testing is both cheap, accurate, and readily available, that people are educated about how to reasonably decrease their chances of catching a virus, teach how to manage a mild infection and self-quarantine, and when to seek medical attention. IMO, we don't need to tank the world economy in order to do this.

drcongo• 6 years ago

How does an article on _Techcrunch_ of all things get more upvotes than the official announcement?

SXSW Cancelled Due to Coronavirus

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