Photo: Getty Images

There’s a host of Australian sailors on boats contesting this year’s Cup, but no Australian team. Is this purely due to a lack of corporate support?

Well, it’s never really been about corporate funding. But, firstly, let me say this: there are more Australians involved in the America’s Cup in San Francisco than any other nation in the world. We’ve now surpassed New Zealand in terms of supplying knowledge, technology and sailors. But, as we say: no cash, no splash. We may have the best technologists and the best sailors, but if you don’t have the dollars required to fund the research and the development and the training regimes, then it’s all hypothetical. The bottom line is that these projects are now too expensive. They’re $100 million-projects spread over three years. In my opinion, that needs to be scaled back to $40 million to get multiple teams involved.

Secondly, the economic model of the America’s Cup has never been a corporate model. These projects are much more expensive than corporate funding can manage. They attract multi-billionaires who want to move from being a regional trader to a global trader. So, invariably, the $100 million-projects we’re seeing at the moment are being sponsored by individuals. Take Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle software and the current holder of the America’s Cup. In my opinion, winning the Cup has lifted him from being just another American billionaire, to an extremely prominent figure on a global basis. It’s the prestige that’s associated with winning the America’s Cup that’s of extreme interest to these entrepreneurs. And that’s been the same model over the 160 years of competition.