The DEU has released the announcement for the Nebelhorn Trophy 2020, I skimmed through it and did not see anything out of the ordinary.
https://eislauf-union.de/files/Events/NT/NT2020_Announcement.pdf
However,
https://eislauf-union.de/events/nebelhorn-trophy
states that the DEU will not return money, in case of cancellation, this includes travel expenses.
To put this into context to what we are dealing with right now,
any bigger events are still on hold until the 31st. of August, except for events with a "hygiene concept", like in football, basketball or beachvolleyball and soon tennis. Right now there is talk about allowing more events without a crowd, as it´s currently done to the above. Sports like Handball, Ice Hockey and the like have, however, expressed big concerns of continuation without a crowd.
In regards of the NT trophy and FS in general, I want to point out and that is just my opinion, nothing official, that a NT without a crowd will not happen. On the final day, we always had the Gala with a fully packed venue. If we assume that 1000 people buy a ticket for 30 Euro, then that will be 30.000 Euro. Those 30k, would be missing, which is quite a lot of money. I assume that in this case, an additional sponsor or funding by the ISU would be required.
Besides the financial aspect, they would need to offer a "hygiene concept" which based on my experience at the venue, might require some additional costs, like for walls between officials, more shuttle services, masks and hand sanitizers. Some figure skating venues at Germany are currently asking skaters to not use the changing rooms, but enter the venue with their skating outfits. A max number of skaters at the practice rink warm up area could be applied, the cafeteria being closed ... This could cause additional costs and might influence how practicable an international sports event would be under these conditions.
The last issue could be the travel restrictions currently in place at the EU. Travel from outside the EU; is still on hold until the end of the month, afterwards some restrictions could be lifted, like for students, health workers and the like. I am unsure if athletes would fall under this, but I guess they won´t unless they actually go to school like the ones at Oberstdorf.
The German government is overall keen on having strict rules on countries with high numbers of infection, while countries with lower numbers have less strict rules to follow. We are talking about self isolation and the like. This could cause a problem with countnries like the US, Russia if the numbers are still high in September, even if the travel restrictions being further softned for other non EU countries.
TLDR:
From my point of view,
The OC from the NT 2020 must come up with a hygiene concept to be allowed to host the event, said concept must be accepted by the local health department. Rules could be about the max number of skaters, crowd participation, mask requirements and hand sanitizers, distance rules for officials, and so on. These rules do vary from sports to sports, figure skating has not yet released one as far I know, therefore just my guesses above, but in tennis for instance, there are no ball kids or handshakes, in football only 10 journalists and masks until the match starts and similar rules.
It is very likely that a NT without a crowd, could run into financial difficulties, as ticket sales are important. Additional sponsors or funding by the ISU might be required to cover the costs.
Besides that, we still have travel restrictions for several strong figure skating nations, such as the US. Therefore it is possible, that we might only have skaters from the EU at the event or just those from close by countries.
Last but not least, in case of cancellation, the OC won´t offer a refund, which could keep poorer nations away, due the risks of losing money. Also to mention are much higher prices for food and accomodation in Germany right now. The hygiene concepts make the overall production less effective, like with vegetables, but also the hotels can not run on full capacity. The NT will therefore, most likely be more expensive for skaters, officials and fans (if allowed).
Since things change almost daily, my guess can already be history tomorrow, so take it with a grain of salt and just as a "where we are now".
Sadly, not really much information you can work with
https://eislauf-union.de/files/Events/NT/NT2020_Announcement.pdf
However,
https://eislauf-union.de/events/nebelhorn-trophy
states that the DEU will not return money, in case of cancellation, this includes travel expenses.
The Organizing Committee reserves the right to cancel the “Nebelhorn-Trophy 2020” if due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) the decision or recommendation of the national/local Government will not agree to conduct such an event or if the travel restrictions into and out of Germany will block the Teams for an unexpected period of time. In this case, no compensation will be paid for costs incurred (e.g. cancellation of booked reservations in travel)!
To put this into context to what we are dealing with right now,
any bigger events are still on hold until the 31st. of August, except for events with a "hygiene concept", like in football, basketball or beachvolleyball and soon tennis. Right now there is talk about allowing more events without a crowd, as it´s currently done to the above. Sports like Handball, Ice Hockey and the like have, however, expressed big concerns of continuation without a crowd.
In regards of the NT trophy and FS in general, I want to point out and that is just my opinion, nothing official, that a NT without a crowd will not happen. On the final day, we always had the Gala with a fully packed venue. If we assume that 1000 people buy a ticket for 30 Euro, then that will be 30.000 Euro. Those 30k, would be missing, which is quite a lot of money. I assume that in this case, an additional sponsor or funding by the ISU would be required.
Besides the financial aspect, they would need to offer a "hygiene concept" which based on my experience at the venue, might require some additional costs, like for walls between officials, more shuttle services, masks and hand sanitizers. Some figure skating venues at Germany are currently asking skaters to not use the changing rooms, but enter the venue with their skating outfits. A max number of skaters at the practice rink warm up area could be applied, the cafeteria being closed ... This could cause additional costs and might influence how practicable an international sports event would be under these conditions.
The last issue could be the travel restrictions currently in place at the EU. Travel from outside the EU; is still on hold until the end of the month, afterwards some restrictions could be lifted, like for students, health workers and the like. I am unsure if athletes would fall under this, but I guess they won´t unless they actually go to school like the ones at Oberstdorf.
The German government is overall keen on having strict rules on countries with high numbers of infection, while countries with lower numbers have less strict rules to follow. We are talking about self isolation and the like. This could cause a problem with countnries like the US, Russia if the numbers are still high in September, even if the travel restrictions being further softned for other non EU countries.
TLDR:
From my point of view,
The OC from the NT 2020 must come up with a hygiene concept to be allowed to host the event, said concept must be accepted by the local health department. Rules could be about the max number of skaters, crowd participation, mask requirements and hand sanitizers, distance rules for officials, and so on. These rules do vary from sports to sports, figure skating has not yet released one as far I know, therefore just my guesses above, but in tennis for instance, there are no ball kids or handshakes, in football only 10 journalists and masks until the match starts and similar rules.
It is very likely that a NT without a crowd, could run into financial difficulties, as ticket sales are important. Additional sponsors or funding by the ISU might be required to cover the costs.
Besides that, we still have travel restrictions for several strong figure skating nations, such as the US. Therefore it is possible, that we might only have skaters from the EU at the event or just those from close by countries.
Last but not least, in case of cancellation, the OC won´t offer a refund, which could keep poorer nations away, due the risks of losing money. Also to mention are much higher prices for food and accomodation in Germany right now. The hygiene concepts make the overall production less effective, like with vegetables, but also the hotels can not run on full capacity. The NT will therefore, most likely be more expensive for skaters, officials and fans (if allowed).
Since things change almost daily, my guess can already be history tomorrow, so take it with a grain of salt and just as a "where we are now".
Sadly, not really much information you can work with
Last edited: