\n
\na change we can live with?<\/p>\n
<\/span> We\u2019ve gone from an event that will revolutionize the public perception of sailing, that will grab the \u2018Facebook Generation\u2019s\u2019 interest and introduce the sport to millions of new people to something that is only going to work if it can be hosted cheaply and easily.<\/p>\n That\u2019s BMW\/Oracle\u2019s stated reason for the world\u2019s third richest man ditching San Francisco: The deal left him on the hook for far too much cash if the event didn\u2019t make any money or if the sponsorship dollars didn\u2019t materialize.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve said from the very, very beginning that Ellison could succeed at his goal of changing the face of the Cup and sailing in the US only through a very careful and expensive process that guaranteed maximum eyeballs watching a completely new presentation of the kind of racing that few have ever seen.\u00a0 His success would depend absolutely on a well-prepared and promoted venue, on participation of a half dozen solid teams, and on him paying whatever it costs to bring in network television and fully integrate it with the web and the dozens of new distribution channels.<\/p>\n But something has changed \u2013 something big \u2013 and it looks as though the team may have given up on the vision, working instead on getting something ironed out in much less desirable and accessible Newport and proceeding with the plans for a traveling circus.<\/p>\n So what happened?\u00a0 Is this the final step of\u00a0Tom Ehman\u2019s decades-old plan to get the Cup back to Newport<\/a> where he first worked with the NYYC? Is the team finally getting enoughpressure from Grant Dalton<\/a><\/a> and the other CEOs to get it sorted or they are out?\u00a0 Are Larry and Russell sick and tired of trying to do something special for an ungrateful sailing public, or sick of trying to make San Francisco work for a government that didn\u2019t appreciate the opportunity?<\/p>\n One thing is for sure:\u00a0 Considering the volume of cash that Larry Ellison has spent on not only previous Cups but numerous projects throughout his lifetime, it ain\u2019t about the money.\u00a0 But considering the glee with which the \u2018yachting establishment\u2019 up in the Northeast is tossing lifelines to Ehman & Co, perhaps it is about something far simpler, far older, and far more in keeping with the AC being unable to escape being an ancient and obsolete competition for the super rich\u2026and not the public.\u00a0 After all, San Fran is like the\u00a0nouveau riche <\/em>guy ostracized by the real old money folks that built America\u2026and had their summer homes in Newport.<\/p>\n But hell, who knows? Galway is almost as isolated as Newport, and they had hundreds of thousands of visitors to that small Irish town for the Volvo stopover.\u00a0 Larry can still accomplish his TV-based goals if he gets some good competitors and they sail in the confined waters of Narragansett Bay with innovative coverage tachniques.\u00a0 It could work.\u00a0 Ok, It probably won\u2019t, but it could.\u00a0 So maybe there won\u2019t be billions for a region, but there would be lots of good yachting jobs coming up in Rhode Island, a great time to be the skipper of a rich NYers powerboat or a canvas guy\u2026<\/p>\n Check the\u00a0Newport thread here<\/a> for some light reading and\u00a0the SF thread here<\/a>.\u00a0 Pack a lunch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is from sailing anarchy, I still believe that Newport should be careful what they wish for. Valencia has a purpose built venue, empty. It seems that the AC community wants their cake and eat it as well. ac dope a change we can live with? The absolute shitstorm of meetings, public statements, news reports … Continue reading the latest AC dope? a moving target<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[2397,2443,2454],"class_list":["post-990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bmworacle","tag-americas-cup","tag-bmw-oracle","tag-newport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":991,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions\/991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sailinganarchy.com\/fringe\/2010\/StateRalliesForRaces.jpg\")
<\/a>The absolute shitstorm of meetings, public statements, news reports and lobbying over the location for the 34th America\u2019s Cup is massively it is impacting the goals so loftily sought out by Messrs. Ellison and Coutts.<\/p>\n