Analysis: It has been six months since Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) successfully defended the America’s Cup on behalf of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, yet still the 38th edition has no official home and a waning appetite from would-be challengers.
The latest to throw in the towel is Alinghi Red Bull Racing, whose main contribution to America’s Cup 37 was propping up Barcelona’s carbon fibre repair industry. The departure of the billionaire-backed Swiss syndicate follows the exit of INEOS owner Jim Ratcliffe, who added Sir Ben Ainslie to the list of people he no longer wanted to feed – a list that now includes New Zealand Rugby and the stadium staff at Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe was for the briefest time contemplating a challenge of his own without the British yachting veteran at the helm, but it appears the gutting of one of the world’s most storied football clubs – and an ongoing beef with EU regulations on plastic pollution – have sidetracked him from pursuing yachting’s oldest prize.
While a couple of very wealthy men walking away from their little toy boats in a huff is not the end of the world for an event that has always been as strenuously contested around the board room table as it is on the water, it does bring into question the overall attractiveness of the Cup, given its move back to Europe was supposed to be the catalyst for a renewed competitive fervour and a rejuvenated broadcast appetite.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a study released by the University of Barcelona and the Barcelona Capital Nautica Foundation following America’s Cup 37, it's claimed the event generated economic benefit to the tune of more than one billion euros (NZ$1.9 billion), with more than 2 million visitors specifically travelling to the city for the event across its 59 days. That seems like an awfully successful event, so why more exit than entry now?
Emirates Team New Zealand supremo Grant Dalton says he was surprised by the Alinghi decision. He claims they have been actively engaged in discussions around the format of the next challenger series and ways to proactively work together on the running of the event. Dalton claims the decision shows “it has been somewhat obvious for some time that they have been struggling to recover from their lacklustre performance in Barcelona last October".
That’s not how Alinghi have pitched it. In a statement, the team claims they “have not been able to find agreement with the Defender of the America's Cup for the future of the event".
“We would like to have seen more accountability, greater transparency and new opportunities to perform not only individually but as a group. That way we might all of us together could have delivered a commercially viable event capable of attracting global TV coverage, spectators, and sponsors."
To cut to the chase, they likely wanted a bigger slice of the pie.
The biggest problem with a America’s Cup format is that it is still well and truly rooted to the 19th century ‘Deed of Gift', which is the most quibbled over document in the history of sports. The second biggest problem is the necessary but exclusive relationship between the Defender (The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron but really ETNZ) and the Challenger of Record (The Royal Yacht Squadron but really Sir Ben Ainslie’s Athena). These two parties act as a bloc in terms of class rules, format, and a host of other time sensitive considerations that effectively penalise later entries.
ADVERTISEMENT
The head-spinning detail of it all – not to mention the clandestine nature of discussions and the protracted nature of every negotiation – may be grist for the mill for the die-hard cup aficionados and a specialist cabal of legal experts, but certainty is a wonderful currency in a world that desires more action and less mystique. The America’s Cup may be alone in terms of its remarkable history, but it’s not the only sailing event attracting sponsorship dollars and big money interest.
Dalton, who has been in Europe investigating venue options, says a decision will soon be made around Cup venue, with Italy and Greece both leading candidates according to sailing sources. Once that announcement is made – and in ETNZ’s defence, they always gave June of this year as the likely date for such an announcement – it will be intriguing to see just how many challengers emerge.
If others follow Alinghi’s move, it may indicate a renewed need to review how the biggest decisions on protocol are made, and who makes them. Dalton is a wily fox when it comes to this event, and his obsession has been a massive part of ETNZ’s three-peat. Sir Ben is another obsessional, which is probably an obligatory character trait when it comes to this kind of thing.
Obsessions can blind, however, so let’s hope both these old dogs have a few new tricks.
