Newshub NZ recently put out the following somewhat disappointing - if not totally surprising - announcement:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newshub understands half the boats
challenging for the America's Cup will not make it to the start line in
Auckland in 2021.
All three teams that filed late
entries have failed to get enough money together to stage a challenge.
It leaves Emirates Team New Zealand
facing the prospect of losing millions of dollars, with its dreams of up to
eight super-sized mono-hulls flying over the Waitematā now dead in the
water.
Multiple sources have told Newshub
three of the declared challengers won't make it to Auckland.
"It is not surprising that some
of the challenges aren't going to make it to the start line," said veteran
America's Cup skipper Chris Dickson.
"It's an expensive game, the
America's Cup."
Newshub has been told that Malta's
entry is "dead in the water" and "has gone dark".
DutchSail is resorting to crowdfunding
and says "the pressure is on" and "the moment of truth is at
hand."
Newshub understands that
California's Stars & Stripes is currently drafting a media release
announcing its withdrawal.
That
leaves:
- - Luna Rosa, the challenger of record;
- - INEOS Team UK, backed by Sir Ben Ainslie;
- - American Magic, from the New York Yacht Club.
Just last month, the latter showed
off how advanced it was, by foiling in New York.
But the loss of three teams also
leaves Emirates Team New Zealand out of pocket.
Newshub has been told it will miss
out on selling a design and technology package worth $5 million per team.
"Team New Zealand has two jobs
at hand - one is running the event and the other running their team," said
Dickson. "The two are quite different operations and financially quite
different.
"But Team New Zealand, like the
other teams, to be competitive and to win this thing again, they need to be
generating $20-30 million a year to win - and I'm sure they're working hard on
that. "
The team would also be perilously
close to breaching its agreement with the Government and Auckland Council.
Under its obligation, it must
deliver at least three challengers. In return, the Government has pledged
$136.5 million, while Auckland Council will gift $113 million for infrastructure.
The event is expected to pump
between $600m-$1b into the economy.
Work has already begun demolishing
part of the waterfront to make way for the challenger bases.
"More teams are always
easier," Dickson said. "It's better for the media, it's better for
publicity, it's better for everything - Team NZ will be disappointed.
"But four teams make an event
and as long as those four teams are there, it's going be just fine."
Emirates Team New Zealand said no
team had officially withdrawn yet - but it didn't expect all three to be there
in 2021.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time will tell, but it appears to us that the 2021 America's Cup races will be less well attended than past events, a real pity in our opinion. But the huge costs that seem to be rising with each challenge are daunting to say the least and, though hard to believe, the audience appears to be shrinking.
More as it becomes available.
Fair Winds,
Old Salt
No comments:
Post a Comment