Revenues

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Revenue From Contract With Customer [Abstract]

Revenues

4. REVENUES

Deferred revenue primarily includes revenue associated with pass products, admission or in-park products or services with a future intended use date and contract liability balances related to licensing and international agreements collected in advance of the Company satisfying its performance obligations and is expected to be recognized in future periods. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, $14.5 million and $13.4 million, respectively, is included in other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets related to the long-term portion of deferred revenue, which primarily relates to the Company’s international agreement, as discussed in the following section.

The following table reflects the Company’s deferred revenue balance as of December 31, 2021 and 2020:   

	2021		2020
	(In thousands)
Deferred revenue, including long-term portion	$	169,333	$	144,187
Less: Deferred revenue, long-term portion, included in other liabilities		14,540		13,428
Deferred revenue, short-term portion	$	154,793	$	130,759

The majority of the deferred revenue, short term portion, balance outstanding as of January 1, 2021 was recognized as revenue during the year ended December 31, 2021.

International Agreements

The Company previously received $10.0 million in deferred revenue recorded in other liabilities related to a nonrefundable payment received from a partner in connection with a project in the Middle East to provide certain services pertaining to the planning and design of SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, a marine life theme park on Yas Island (the “Middle East Project”), with funding received expected to offset internal expenses. The Company also receives additional funds from its partner related to agreed upon services and reimbursements of costs incurred by the Company on behalf of the Middle East Project, including approximately $4.5 million and $1.9 million of additional deferred revenue recorded in other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Separately, the Company recognizes an asset for the costs incurred to fulfill the contract if the costs are specifically identifiable, enhance resources that will be used to satisfy performance obligations in the future and are expected to be recovered. As a result, approximately $9.6 million and $5.9 million of costs incurred related to the Middle East Project are recorded in other assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.  The related deferred revenue and expense will begin to be recognized when substantially all of the services have been performed. The Company continually monitors performance on the contract and will make adjustments, if necessary. Construction for the Middle East Project is on track and scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022.

In March 2017, the Company entered into a Park Exclusivity and Concept Design Agreement and a Center Concept and Preliminary Design Support Agreement (collectively, the “ZHG Agreements”) with an affiliate of Zhonghong Zhuoye Group Co., Ltd. (“ZHG Group”), to provide design, support and advisory services for various potential projects and grant exclusive rights in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. In April 2019, the Company terminated the ZHG Agreements for non-payment of undisputed amounts owed.  For the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company recorded revenue related to the ZHG Agreements of approximately $1.7 million, which is included in food, merchandise and other revenue in the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss). There were no amounts recorded as revenue related to the ZHG Agreements in the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. See Note 17–Related-Party Transactions for further details.