This has always been the plan, since Ben Ainslie was signed to team Oracle.
America’s Cup “Defender’s Series” Revealed
By mrmojo
America’s Cup Principal Race Officer John Craig confirmed Friday that Jimmy Spithill and Ben Ainslie will have to battle it out to see who skippers the defense of the 34th America’s Cup.
Craig said the Defender’s Series will run in tandem with the Louis Vuitton Cup, scheduled for July 4 through September 1, 2013.
Copyright © ORACLE TEAM USAWhile it’s been clear from the beginning that Larry Ellison brought Ainslie on board to hold Spithill’s feet to the fire, having a formal Defender’s Series will put two more AC72s on the Bay racing – something to augment what looks like a three-way race for the Challenger’s spot.
Fans will get to root for Ben or Jimmy, T-shirts will be sold, carbon fiber refrigerator magnets will blossom from a thousand doors, and commerce will rule the waves. Like other major leaque sports, it’s all about running more contests, and depending on how Team Oracle wants to set it up, there could be quite a bit of AC72 face time ahead next year.
Ya know, I read this and then went to the San Fran Chronicle site to “get more info”. Guess what, there was nothing on it. Under sports there were 25 hot links to more stories not one of which referred to the America’s Cup…..