Magic sink with barely a ripple on the US horizon
America is out of the America’s Cup and the sad fact is, America doesn’t care.
With American Magic eliminated after a resounding Prada Cup semifinal defeat to Luna Rossa on Sunday, it means for the first time since 2007, and the fourth time in the event’s 170-year history, an American entry won’t be in the America’s Cup.
How did the United States react? With as much noise as Donald Trump’s inactive Twitter account.
The New York Times didn’t have an update on the New York Yacht Club’s exit. The newspaper has run one piece on the regatta, a feature titled “The Resurrection of American Magic”. Unfortunately, the article was published the same day the team were eliminated from the Prada Cup. A short resurrection indeed.
The Maryland-based Capital Gazette covered Sunday’s race, because “Anne Arundel County native Terry Hutchinson” is the American Magic skipper.
In America, the America’s Cup is just a small fish in a big sporting ocean. Auckland, Portsmouth or Sardinia would be much better hosts for the next event than anywhere in the country the event is named after.
In 2013, when Jimmy Spithill was leading Oracle Team USA to the greatest comeback in sporting history, the coverage in the US was drawing a 0.9 rating for NBC. The US Open women’s final between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka was on at the same time and attracted a 4.9 rating on CBS, according to a Stuff report.
For the 2013 and 2017 events, the America’s Cup Event Authority ended up effectively paying NBC to broadcast the races. It meant there were occasions in San Francisco where racing was called off because of lack of wind during the allotted made-for-TV time slot, only for it to pick up later in the day when boats were heading back to shore.
There were reports of people in San Francisco not even aware of what was going on in the water outside their windows.
The truth is it’s never going to capture the imagination of the American audience when it’s up against the likes of the NBA, NFL, MLB and college sports. And even the “smaller” sporting competitions — UFC, PGA Tour, Nascar, NHL, MLS, WNBA and Indycar which take up any spare spots on the ESPN and SI. com homepages. By my count, it’s playing 12th fiddle.
If victorious, we weren’t going to see Hutchinson or Dean Barker do the late-night shows with the Auld Mug or grace the cover of Sports Illustrated with President Joe Biden, like the good old days.
In New Zealand, though, it’s the biggest story in town. Football-mad Britain and Italy would also likely embrace the event if they hosted it.
The unfortunate thing is American Magic were a well-run team with two talented leaders in Hutchinson and Barker fronting a hard-working unit who would have been deserved winners.
The capsize two weeks ago meant they were making major changes to their boat in a short space of time, almost starting from scratch instead of focusing on the modifications that would have given them the edge.
We’d seen from Ineos UK how much you can change the boat over a short time.
They also had little time out on the water once it was seaworthy again and that showed on Friday and Saturday where the crease-heavy kinks were on display.
Look back at December 17, a month before the capsize: The opening day of the America’s Cup World Series and the first time we got to see these boats up close. American Magic thrashed Ineos Team UK by five minutes in their first race before beating Team New Zealand by 12 seconds. At that point, no one would have thought they would be the first eliminated.
Things can change quickly, surely a warning for confident TNZ fans.
In America, the America’s Cup is just a small fish in a big sporting ocean.