Look, it's about money

Money may assuredly sink America's Cup. And I agree with the great gentleman journalist of AC, Mr. Bob Fisher. It shouldn't be about money.

But frankly, money is what keeps AC afloat, just as it keeps every other sporting event on the planet afloat.

Just choose the sport.

It would be nice if there were . . . well . . . billionaires . . . who could dig deeply into their pockets . . . to fund a magnificent sporting event for their elevation and our enjoyment.

The sad fact is, even those . . . billionaires . . . like Ernesto and Larry . . . need help.

All of us, for our pleasure, have become extraordinarily dependent on Louis Vuitton, UBS, BTInfonet, Audemars Piguet, BMW, Oracle, Allianz, Emirates Airlines, Toyota, Estrella Damm, not to mention Prada and Iberdrola, just to name a few.

And it's not enough that the corporate world has to pitch in to make AC happen. But so has Valencia and governmental authorities in Spain. Not to mention Emirates Team New Zealand's friendly sponsor, New Zealand. The country.

Sailors manned boats. But those sponsors financed the great AC32 event we all enjoyed.

While everyone debates protocols, rules, complaints, amicus briefs. And as bloggers blog. And as sailors puff and luff. And as tough, committed partisans like Tom Ehman (USA) and Russell Coutts (NZL) and Brad Butterworth (NZL) and Tom Schnackenberg (NZL) and their teams scurry from meeting to meeting and log in countless hours on conference calls and cellphones . . . all the rest of us simply observe, comment, and freely adjudicate our opinions.

We have the right to do that, and we do.

That's fine.

But over there, on the other side, are the people who write the checks. Bob Fisher, I'm sure, respects them and wishes they didn't exist. But there they are. They have the resources. They love the sport. They love what was presented to them. They are still committed. They are waiting. But the ink in their pens has run dry.

If they are not important, fine. Let's go and make AC33 happen without them. Let's show them!

But a real, solid AC33 isn't going to happen without them. That's obvious.

And the fact of the matter is, unless the AC community clears the decks, acts sane, moves forward, works together, becomes one together, and creates a workable AC33 -- a very realistic and workable AC33, free from controversy and cant -- then AC34 is going to be an equally big, sloppy, ugly mess, just like this one.

There isn't a chief marketing officer, a CEO, or a Board of Directors, anywhere on the planet, who will put a penny into AC33, whatever happens. That's just a big, fat, plain fact.

In today's world AC33 would have to be the biggest, riskiest promotional investment on the planet. Bar none.

And frankly, at this point, it would be very difficult to get any sane, reasonable board to approve any kind of investment, either, in AC34, if this keeps up.

As if you hadn't noticed, sponsors have left the stage.

Like boats that were near you in the water, just a moment ago, they are now long gone. What you now see around you is a big, black, threateningly ugly cloud. It's the harbinger of a storm that could last five years, unless we do something.

Money may not relate to the purity of the event. I'm with you on that.

But money matters as to whether the event actually happens or not.

Did you look? AC33 ain't happening.