It sure is annoying when you plan a big party, line up the venue, and have expectations for a high turnout—only to have the regrets start rolling in. The 2013 America’s Cup (Larry Ellison Edition) has seen team after team forgo this year’s competition. As the 2010 winner, multi-billionaire Oracle founder Ellison won the right to choose the next venue and which type of boat would be raced—which makes him the face of this year’s races. He chose Oracle’s backyard, San Francisco, and picked the AC72, a revolutionary wing-sail catamaran that is extremely fast and extremely expensive, not to mention extremely dangerous.
Out of the 15 teams expected to race, 11 bowed out of this year’s Cup, due largely to the cost of commissioning one of the highly technical boats and hiring a team of competent and competitive sailors who actually know how to operate them. With so few rivals, some of the early races featured only one boat.
As a result, crowd projections are down 25 percent from 2010, and predicted race-related tax receipts for the City of San Francisco have been cut nearly in half. The Cup is still expected to benefit the Bay Area, though it’ll be a less impressive boon than originally forecast. And despite fundraisers’ assurances, it remains to be seen whether the city, which has sunk considerable resources into the races, will break even. Behold some of the numbers:
If Oracle wins the America’s Cup, Ellison would have the right to choose the venue again next year. So when the dust settles, San Francisco may be in for another round.
Oracle boat photo credit: Jose C Silva/Flickr
City Hall photo credit: Alaskan Dude/Flickr
