America's Cup- Three NZ sailors celebrated in Top 20 sports earners

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com on 2 Oct 2014 Three America's Cup sailors have been named in the top 20 sports earners, in a list published in the New Zealand Herald this week.

Topping the list is Oracle Team USA's Sir Russell Coutts with alleged earnings of $13million. He is just a $1million ahead of an English Premier League player, Winston Reid, and motor racing ace, Scott Dixon. All Black captain, Ritchie McCaw is ranked #5.

The list is topped by four/five Rugby players (one of whom plays two codes). Sailing and Cricket each have three named on the list, however the highest ranked cricket player is only ranked in #12 place.

Sailing has three sailors on the list with Emirates Team NZ's Grant Dalton having an alleged $2million income and Dean Barker and alleged $1million income. Dalton and Barker are ranked at #9 and #13 on the list. Sailors easily top the list, as a sporting group, on the basis of combined earnings.

If nothing else the list does show that professional sailing can be a very rewarding career.

In the case of the three sailors, earnings are calculated largely by guesswork and rumour. The sailors also have a longer sporting life than the other codes listed, and the three sailors named would be the oldest on the list in terms of age.

Some commentators questioned Coutts involvement in the list on the basis that he did not physically sail in the 2013 America's Cup. But the Oracle Team USA CEO still enjoys an active professional sailing career at various levels and classes. Dalton's inclusion was similarly criticized, however he did sail a number of races in the 34th America's Cup. Both had very key roles in the team management and actively sailed in the build-up to the America's Cup.

When queried earlier this year on the earnings of Emirates Team NZ sailors, Grant Dalton noted that his best earning years were the ten years he campaigned for European based round the world sailing teams before returning to head Emirates Team NZ.

The earnings of sailors must be viewed with some skepticism. For other sports, earnings can be calculated on the basis of prizemoney won and similar methods. There is only one female on the list, teenage golfer, Lydia Ko, who is ranked higher than Dalton and Barker in eighth place with calculated earnings of $2.1million per year.

There is no published data on sailing salaries and incomes from America's Cup and other efforts and it is not clear how the Herald has arrived at the incomes they are reporting. The paper has researched the property assets owned by the sailors and their business interests. While property records and assessed values are publicly listed in NZ, the business interests are not, and again are hard to value accurately.

While outside the scope of the list, it is also worth noting that sailing is the only sport which generates a substantial downsteam industry, with the NZ marine industry sector claiming over $1.5billion of revenue, on an annual basis. The rise of the NZ Marine industry in the last 30 years has paralleled the establishment and rise of Team NZ in its various forms and America's Cup involvement. In the last America's Cup cycle, Oracle Team USA and Core Builders Composites established a substantial new building facility in Warkworth, arguably the most advanced building facility in the world.

The top five, long with narratives as to their incomes are listed here