America’s Cup in San Francisco – it's on!!!
We’re still excited about the America’s Cup. It really is quite some competition, albeit without an Australian contender. I hope you’ve been following the articles I’ve published in “Back on the Block”…
The final is now between Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle of the US.
On Australian election day, the first races of the finals will get under way in San Francisco. The Cup finals are a best-of-17 series.
In the lead-up to the first races, Oracle has been severely penalised by the organising committee and governing body. The Oracle catamarans were found to have illegal bags of lead and resin wedged into their frames and Oracle will also be sailing without a key crew member, Dirk de Ridder, a 40-year-old Dutchman who was banished from the event for his role in the scandal. Oracle was also ordered to pay $250,000 in penalties to two charitable foundations.
The penalties are unprecedented in the history of the 162 years of the event and are a big boost for Emirates Team New Zealand, the challenger.
The New Zealand catamaran was by far and away superior in the qualifying races, the Louis Vuitton Cup, and bookmakers have made it a slight favourite to take the trophy from Oracle.
Oracle will now enter the event two points behind Team New Zealand. It will need to win 11 races to win the series, while New Zealand will only need to win 9.
We’ve previously mentioned the preparations for attendance and business activities in San Francisco associated with Cup. Well, Reuters reports that in general attendance is far below projections, with most in San Francisco paying little attention to the event.
This article first appeared in "Back on the Block", New Millennium Business' newsletter on the business of events on 7 September 2013….the Block: Election stuff; IOC hits Buenos Aires; Brazil's struggles; America's Cup; TV-Asia; Cricket…and more – http://eepurl.com/ELETj
