The global Covid-19 pandemic is the biggest public health crisis the world has experienced for a hundred years. Over 350,000 people have so far died and countries around the world are in lockdown to try curtail the spread of the virus. As social distancing has become necessary, mass gatherings have been banned because of the risk of transmission, but also because emergency services that would have been deployed at events are needed in the front line of the Covid-19 response.
Our remaining 2020 competitions Tribal Clash Portugal, Tribal Clash USA and Tribal Clash UK are postponed, at this time we do not have rescheduled dates for these events. There is no visibility at the moment as to when countries are able to permit large public gatherings again, as both Europe and USA are still dealing with the first wave of the pandemic. It is impossible to estimate when social distancing measures will be lifted enough to allow public events, so at the moment we are unable to confirm future competition dates. Furthermore, in order to move forward with a planned event, we require emergency services, first aid providers, staff, infrastructure and also airlines to be flying – all of this is currently halted as the world deals with Covid-19.
All teams who have booked tickets to the postponed events will have their tickets rolled over to the next available date. Alternatively teams can transfer their ticket to another Tribal Clash event, or to another team. We are unable to issue refunds to all the teams in Portugal, USA and UK who have booked a ticket, in line with the rest of the entertainment and travel industry; as an extraordinary and unprecedented force majeure event akin to war, terrorism, or natural disaster this is out of our control and impacts all our events simultaneously. There is no amount of planning that could have foreseen the scale of this crisis. Our priority is to ensure we are in a position to deliver events when the lights go back on. As we have several hundred teams affected by the pandemic and various national lockdowns, there are only two outcomes that are FAIR AND CONSISTENT for all teams: 1) everyone gets a full refund and 2) no-one gets a full refund and all tickets are transferred to a new rescheduled date. Simple maths render option 1 impossible and would result in immediate bankruptcy and hundreds of disappointed teams. Therefore the only FAIR option for all teams is option 2. We are unable to make exceptions as a reaction to individual emails, although we are acutely aware that many teams are unable to make ‘any date ever anywhere in the future’. We are extremely disappointed that we are not able to operate as planned, and sympathise with all athletes affected.
For further information about how Covid-19 is impacting Tribal Clash and the events industry, listen to our latest podcast Inside The Tribe, you can find it on Apple Podcast and Spotify. Thank you for your support during this crisis, stay safe and healthy, and we hope to celebrate on the beach with you all soon.