NCAA creating $175M self-insurance captive to cover event cancellation

The NCAA is spending $175M to "create a self-insurance captive" that will "provide coverage for, among other items, cancellation of the Division I men's basketball tournament," according to USA Today's Steve Berkowitz. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners website says that captives "are essentially a form of self-insurance whereby the insurer is owned wholly by the insured." They are typically "established to meet the unique risk-management needs of the owners or members." Berkowitz noted NCAA captive's lines of insurance "will include" NCAA office of legal affairs coverage; directors and officers policy coverage; and event cancellation coexcess of commercial policy coverage. The NCAA in a statement said that this was established, in part, "after an analysis revealed lack of coverage, limited access to markets and the increased cost of event cancellation insurance available in the commercial insurance marketplace" (TWITTER.com, 3/7).