oops.

I assume the company purchases insurance against the possibility of a payout? Didn't Jordan's furniture get screwed on one of these deals too?

They got insurance - it talks about the policy in the article.

There's a video of the commercial, too.

Jordan's had insurance (free furniture if the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series). I remember they actually had a commercial where Barry or Elliott talked about it because apparently they had gotten some complaints from fans that they were actually rooting against the Sox.

IIRC, some company in Denver had a similar promotion going in 2008 if Tampa Bay won the World Series, set up before the season and based upon the franchise's decade of ineptitude as the Devil Rays. Only the Phillies rescued that firm from having to pay up, and I'm not sure whether it had insurance (it likely did).

I know the odds of Hamilton hitting a grand slam in any given month aren't tremendous, but this seems like a hell of a risk. I would have added something like "if he hits one in the six inning or later."

I wonder if the insurance company looks at the odds of a player achieving this goal when figuring out the premium. I mean, when you're dealing with stuff like the Red Sox winning the series in 2004, someone was probably just taking the preseason Vegas line, but with a situation like this, I'm sure someone here could probably calculate the odds of Hamilton hitting a grand slam in a given month (this is my backhanded way of fishing for that information).

I assume the company purchases insurance against the possibility of a payout?

Yes, these kind of deals are always backed by insurance (well, a free nacho probably isn't).

They have mostly quit running them in Sweden, because the rate of reimbursement was calculated based on other countries, and here it is a mortal sin not to keep track of what one is owed. So the insurance companies took big hits, the hiked premiums make such offers unworkable now.

They could always spit on every fiftieth floor tile.

I like those odds!

(For some reason I felt like somebody had to say it).

Anyone else in the Chicago TV market reflexively recoil at the phrase "free flooring" thanks to that absolutely execrable Luna commercial?