Liverpool University’s Cannon told Bloomberg there are no infrastructure benefits and most of the $500 million spent will be on the two competing boats.
A 30-month wrangle over rules has scared off sponsors such as Banco Santander, UBS and Nestle - shrinking the organising budget to €8 million from a record €230 million euros in 2007 - and international interest has declined so much that the television rights have been given away for free, according to officials of Bertarelli’s Alinghi team.
“The America’s Cup has lost the sense of national importance,” Cannon said. “From being one of the four or five biggest sports events, it’s become frankly parochial.”
The 2007 America’s Cup made a profit of €66 million euros shared 12 teams. For this year, Geneva-based Alinghi team has given up management of the commercial rights to Valencia’s city hall and regional government.
