You can read the latest press release from the America’s Cup people below. I don’t know when it was put out, possibly at 3:00 AM on Thanksgiving Day, you know, cause that’s how you’re supposed to handle bad news, I guess.
Now, let’s hear from Eric Young:
“Sources close to the America’s Cup said Thompson’s exit was the result of lackluster financial performance of the America’s Cup World Series, a collection of races around the world leading up to the 2013 finale. World Series races have been held in Portugal, England and one week ago in San Diego. Coming events are scheduled for Italy and Newport, R.I.”
So, what makes the America’s Cup 2013 good for San Francisco? Are we getting paid to host it? I don’t think so. And, in fact, I think we’re on the hook for lots of costs that we don’t fully understand at this point. And the person who was supposed to look out for us is now the former Mayor , but, no matter, they’re making him Honorary Commodore or Poohbah or whatever of the whole thing?
Check out a recap show right here, if you want. (Unlike the case with popular sports, you don’t have pay to watch the America’s Cup World Series.) The first minute shows what I’m talking about.
Oh, yeah, the boats are faster, I get that. And oh yeah, these rigs crash with regularity. Like this:
Via mikesm – click to expand
I get that, but what makes this event good? It’s not going to be popular, it’s not going to make money for us. Some businesses will benefit, some won’t, some will be hurt, just like with any other government program. Some people will get temporary gigs and hotels will be able to raise their rates, but this event, overall, isn’t for San Francisco’s benefit.
It’s for the 1% but it’s paid for by the 99%.
Speaking of which, if Larry Ellison wrote a check to the City and County right now for $100,000,000 (put “For Larry’s boat race” in the memo part, LE) AND put up a $500,000,000 account or bond or whatever that people wronged by the America’s Cup could recover from, let’s say, until 2016 or so, well that would turn my frown not necessarily upside-down but back to neutral anyway.
I mean who gives a fuck if Larry Ellison wins another boat race except for Larry Ellison himself? So why isn’t he paying for it?
Speaking of which, again, a good chunk of the 1% doesn’t like all the new changes.
To wit, Sailor44:
“I have watched a couple ofthe match races and, due to the speed of the boats now, and their abiity to quickly accelerate in a small puff, the tactics of the match race are left behind and all we have left is to watch for capsizes, and a lot of spray coming over the bow(s). All this is reflected in the new course, which is nothing but a reach (a drag race, really) to the first mark. Good grief, this eliminates most of the interesting pre race maneuvering, which is most of match racing!”
The ACEA seems to be quite proud (check out Teams Korea’s captain at 1:35 – I think he’s speaking English but I don’t understand half his words) about the times when these cats capsize (the title says “very funny,” but it’s actually it’s extremely funny (even though the daggerboard is the floating kind and it’s properly tied down anyway)) and/or pitchpole. Does the NFL put out Greatest Injuries clips? Does NASCAR put out Greatest Crashes clips? NTIKO. These AC45 rigs have waaaaay too much sail for the conditions that you see in the official ACEA video clips. Why is that?
So you make all these changes, but maybe spectators would just rather look at something else? I mean, if you wanted to lose money putting on a event, why not pay money to bring Rajon Rondo here to play Lebron James one-on-one or something. Why not bring things here that people like? Why are we on the hook for the popularity of a sport that nobody’s really into? We do we have these department heads, who don’t know Jack, out there mindlessly cheerleading for this stupid event that was poorly negotiated. It’s pathetic.
Oh well.
Here’s the release, the one letting us know that Craig Thompson “decided to leave the Event Authority,” you know because he got canned:
“The America’s Cup Event Authority has extended the role of Richard Worth to include Chief Executive Officer along with Chairman. In this expanded role, Richard will be responsible for the commercial interests of the 34th America’s Cup, adding marketing and partnerships to his purview. A 30-year sports marketing executive with extensive global broadcasting and leadership experience, we believe Richard’s hands-on engagement will allow us to significantly enhance the growth of our commercial efforts in support of fulfilling the vision for the 34th America’s Cup.
Overall management of the events will move to America’s Cup Race Management, who will now lead both the on- and off-the-water components of the events, as well as serve as liaison to the teams. Building upon their proven success with event management, led by ACRM CEO and Regatta Director Iain Murray, we believe that centralizing management of the events under ACRM ensures an even smoother road to success.
With this realignment of responsibilities, Craig Thompson has decided to leave the Event Authority. Craig has played an important role over the past year in helping to build the foundation of our future, and we appreciate his significant contributions.”
And oh, for completeness, the latest release from the the Powers That Be
