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Gov. Brown signs America’s Cup
financing bill
By
Eric Young, San Francisco Business Times // Sept. 23,
2011
Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday making it easier for San Francisco
to create financing districts to pay for improvements tied to the America’s
Cup.
“This bill gives San Francisco the flexibility it needs to finance important
waterfront improvements,” Brown said of the legislation written by Assemblyman
Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat.
“The Port of San Francisco is a beautiful urban coastline,” Brown said, “but
its infrastructure needs a lot of work.”
Indeed, some rickety piers are at risk of being condemned because the port
does not have the money to fix them.
The Infrastructure Financing Districts Act of 1990 allows local governments
to divert property tax increment revenues from the state to build roads and
other infrastructure improvements in specified areas. The process of forming an
infrastructure financing district is lengthy, requiring an extended bureaucratic
review and three separate votes of the people.
Ammiano’s bill — AB 664 — quickens this process, Brown said, enabling the
city to set up districts in less time.
The city expects to set up infrastructure finance districts once it completes
the state-mandated environmental review by the end of this year.
Link to article: Gov.
Brown signs America’s Cup financing bill
Related
article: America’s
Cup reaches tax exempt status
Photo: Gilles
Martin-Raget/www.americascup.com
Buell predicts major boom from
America's Cup
By
Alexis Terrazas, San Francisco Examiner // Sept. 25,
2011
Mark Buell, the primary organizer of the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco
— a boat race with the oldest active trophy in international sport — is also
well-schooled in parks. He is the chairman of the board of the Golden Gate
National Park Conservancy and a Recreation and Park Department commissioner.
As America’s Cup Organizing Committee chair, what are your
responsibilities from now until 2013?
Under the agreement that was
signed between Larry Ellison [winner of the previous America’s Cup], the mayor
and me, the America’s Cup Organizing Committee has the responsibility to raise
the money that The City would have otherwise expended to host the event, and to
assist the Event Authority, which are the Ellison people, in introducing them to
potential sponsors. There are a lot of other details in the agreement ... but
the primary focus is to raise $32 [million] to $40 million and to help the Event
Authority in securing sponsors.
How are you planning to raise that kind of money?
Right now, as
in most large capital campaigns, we are in what we call the quiet phase. We’re
talking to major donors and we’re talking to the Event Authority about revenue
streams that could assist. I’m fairly confident that in the next six to eight
weeks, we’ll be able to demonstrate that we’re well on our way to meeting our
objective.
What will this do for The City?
Conservatively, it’s been
estimated from an economic standpoint that it represents $1.4 billion for the
economy and 8,500 jobs. So it’s huge. Frankly, there’s a very good likelihood
Ellison will win the race and keep the trophy here. So we’ll do it again. But
one of the most challenging things is that the race has never been seen from the
shore in its entire history. This is the first time it will be seen from the
shore and the first time there’s ever been an event that involves the whole Bay
Area.
Link to full article: Rec
and Park Commissioner Mark Buell predicts major boon from America's Cup
New, faster format promises TV-friendly
thrills
By
Victor Mallet, Financial Times (UK) // Sept. 20, 2011
The awkward years are over for the America’s Cup – at least if the sailing
regattas associated with the world’s most venerable sporting trophy are judged
for their ability to enthuse spectators, engage some of the world’s top athletes
and tacticians, and extend the boundaries of marine technology.
In terms of commercial success, the outlook is still clouded by the crisis of
confidence in western economies and a consequent shortage of sponsors and
well-funded entrants.
But there was no doubting the excitement generated this summer in Cascais
near Lisbon, the first venue for the preliminary competitions, by the sight of
the powerful, new AC45 catamarans hurtling down the racecourses off the beach
with their helmeted crews.
For three years, the competition – so called after the victory of the
schooner America over its British rivals off the Isle of Wight in 1851 – had
been mired in arcane legal disputes between two billionaires, Larry Ellison of
software group Oracle and Ernesto Bertarelli, a Swiss-Italian pharmaceuticals
tycoon.
That excluded other eager claimants from around the world, but Mr
Ellison’s victory in a bizarre two-boat contest off Valencia last year has
finally cleared the way for a new start.
Gone are two-hour races almost out of sight of land, and elegant monohulls
for which tiny design changes could produce infinitesimal increases in speed and
ensure ultimate victory. Now, spectators and television viewers will be treated
to tense 15-minute contests in overpowered racing machines liable to capsize or
collide.
Link to full article: New,
faster format promises TV-friendly thrills (requires subscription)
Sponsors and public become focus of
attention
By
Matthew Sheahan, Financial Times (UK) // Sept. 20, 2011
“Sailing will never be a spectator sport” is the mantra of many who have
tried to present it to the public and it is a view shared by some of the
audiences that have tried to watch.
But this belief is changing rapidly and today there is barely a corner of the
sport that has not been affected by new technology that brings the story of the
racing ashore.
In the high-profile professional sailing world, events such as the America’s
Cup have been providing big screens onshore for the public on which a mixture of
live video and sophisticated computer animations are supplemented by commentary
from key vantage points.
The recent America’s
Cup World Series event in Plymouth demonstrated how far the technology has
come, with multiple, remotely controlled cameras on all nine of the boats, as
well as helicopter shots, on-the-water cameras and sophisticated graphical
overlays on the live video images.
The technology has also been used to control the racing itself, with virtual
electronic boundaries and remote umpiring that ensure the fleet stays within an
electronically defined field of play. When a competitor approaches the virtual
touch lines, a warning light flashes on board. Stray outside and an alarm goes
off, followed by an instruction from the umpires sent electronically to carry
out a penalty.
In turn, this new technology-driven professional sailing world has forced a
radical rethink of the racing rules themselves.
Link to full article: Sponsors
and public become focus of attention
Photo: Guilain
Grenier/ORACLE Racing
America’s Cup – China
perspective
By
Julie Scheier, CCTV // Sept. 20, 2011
As the excitement of the Americas Cup World Series gets underway in Plymouth,
in England, the oldest and most prestigious sporting trophy in the world
continues to entice sailors.
Link to video: America’s
Cup attracts best athletes
Now even more with America’s Cup new racing era which features the sport’s
best athletes competing on some of the most physically and demanding boats in
the world -- the AC45 wing-sailed catamaran.
Focused on creating more on-the-water excitement for both teams and fans,
this wing-sailed catamaran was designed for both speed and close racing, dubbing
it as the Formula 1 one of boats.
This new format of the Americas Cup sees China and Korea come on board and
challenge other teams in this one design boat, contributing to more excitement
and fulfilling childhood dreams.
Chris Draper, Skipper of Team Korea said, “When I was at school sailing was
all I wanted to do and I didn’t do that well in most of my exams I have
reasonable education but i was always thinking about sailing, and that what was
always on my mind and this is exactly where I wanted to be.”
Andreas Hagara, Helmsman of China Team said, “I had two dreams, two wishes to
win an Olympic medal in the Olympic games and second wish was to be part of an
America’s Cup team well now I am part of the China Team.”
Kit Cheng, Crew of China Team said, “When I was young I love sailing, a lot
and I really wanted to be a real sailor, on this Americas Cup and now I can be
here and i am very very happy with this because it is a dream come true and also
because now I am doing the cup racing for China Team, for my country China.”
Link to full article: America’s
Cup attracts best athletes
Related article: Capsize,
collision dominate AC World Series |