Call to cut exorbitant Cup costs
Hutchinson says budgets should be restricted to encourage entries
American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson is calling for a high-powered meeting between the wealthy backers of the Cup teams to thrash out a realistic future for the event.
In what might be termed ‘breakfast with the billionaires’, Hutchinson would like to see the benefactors come together to agree on a pathway for the Cup, especially the cost base involved.
The spiralling financial barriers to entry and a tight global sponsorship market mean teams are increasingly dependent on the largesse and passion of rich individuals.
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe — formerly Britain’s richest man — is behind their challenge, while Luna Rossa have been supported for more than two decades by Prada chief executive Patrizio Bertelli.
American Magic was backed by former Amway president Doug DeVos, investor and businessman Hap Fauth and motorsport tycoon Roger Penske.
Team New Zealand maintain a large family of sponsors but have also been heavily supported by patron Matteo de Nora, the Italian billionaire who has backed the team since 2003.
The complexity of the new class of AC75s has meant huge costs for the challengers. All have invested close to $150 million, with Ineos believed to have spent considerably more.
Hutchinson said costs need to drop to reflect the economic environment and encourage new teams.
“Whoever wins has to define what they want the event to be,” Hutchinson told the Herald. “If they want it to be a defend-at-all-costs type of event, then you make the entry into it expensive. [But] if you want to bring in new teams and have an evolution of the regatta, then there needs to be consideration to implementing some type of cost control, [though] that’s a hard thing to do when it becomes a competition.”
That’s where Hutchinson would like to see the team owners get together to thrash out what may — and may not be — realistic.
“I would encourage a discussion with the principals from all four teams to see what they want,” said Hutchinson. “They are the guys standing up and front footing it for the sailors, designers and engineers.
“They’re all smart guys. If you had a good, honest discussion about what they want, they would come up with a reasonable way forward that was palatable to them and also to developing the competition.”
Hutchinson said the staggering costs needed to be recognised.
“It’s a big bill. In today’s world, that’s a big ask. It’s something you can’t take lightly. We are incredibly grateful to be racing sailboats for our jobs, but behind that is a lot of resource.”
American Magic were the first challenge from the New York Yacht Club since 2003 and the presence of the storied organisation has added gloss to the event.
But history and heritage only go so far and the team’s early exit — after they did so much right in the preceding years — illustrates the difficulty of a Cup quest.
“We have a very good foundation,” said Hutchinson. “If there is anything I have learned from watching Grant Dalton . . . it took him 13 years. He stayed committed to the process of winning and doing whatever it took.
“We know how hard it is to win, but because I am not responsible for developing the financial resources for it, it’s hard to comment on how the guys feel about that.
“We have a great board of directors and they will steer us in the direction they want us to go.
“I’m confident we have the right infrastructure if they decide they want to keep going and it would be a shame to let that go. But the financial side of it is a heavy burden . . . it’s not for the faint hearted.”
American Magic will begin their campaign debrief in the coming days. It has been suggested Patriot could train against Team New Zealand, but Hutchinson ruled that out.
“Obviously Team New Zealand helped us out a lot. They were incredible competitors, setting a high bar for all of us as far as sportsmanship, helping us rebuild our boat.
“So some would say, ‘well, you owe them one’. [But] I’m not sure in that light that we actually do.”
Hutchinson said they needed to be respectful to Luna Rossa and Ineos Team UK and didn’t want to “interfere” in the competition.
“We need to go lick our wounds, debrief and spend the appropriate time understanding what we did right and what we did wrong and learn from that.”