The famous Malin Burnham, San Diego sailor, businessman and civic leader, who helped organize San Diego Yacht Club's America's Cup defenses from 1988 through 1995 and managed Dennis Connor's successful challenge in Australia in 1986-87, has come to the rescue of the America's Cup.
Let's hijack the event, he says.
Let's have New York Yacht Club petition the New York Supreme Court to corrupt the Deed of Gift and allow the legal defender (Société Nautique de Genève) only one right -- namely, to enter the next event.
Then, let's take America's Cup Management -- actually let's corrupt that, too -- and let's make it a non-profit organization. Let's stuff the board of directors with heavyweight worthies from all previous defenders, plus a member or two from each of the new challengers.
Let's give the new organization all the rights for everything, presumably now and forever, and let them do whatever they want, whenever they like, for whatever reason, just like the Olympics.
Brilliant!!
Here is an idea that advocates assumption of the dictatorship of the event, displacing the Prince of Alinghi, Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI), and reinvesting it with a group of individuals, most of them veteran AC officials, under some vague and ill-defined authority that owes more to Captain Jack Sparrow of Disneyland than it does to the late, lamented and honorable George L. Schuyler.
Is nothing sacred?
Corrupting America's Cup because Ernesto ran away with it doesn't repair the damage.
That sounds eerily like 'we have to destroy this village in order to save it.'
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3 comments:
I agree with you that this "hijacking" idea sounds harsh, but consider this: Ever since the Cup was wrested from the centuries-old grip of the NYYC, the event has consistently managed to implode in on itself whenever it threatened to become a successful, exciting and widely followed event. After the wonderful '87 event in Australia, we had the Big boat/ Catamaran debacle, which killed the momentum of '87. Now in 2007 we have the biggest, grandest and most-watched cup of all time, with close racing as the crowning cherry on top, and what happens? It implodes into legal squabbling. I'm afraid I must agree with Mr. Burnham that drastic changes are needed, and the best way to ensure that the cup cant be tainted by one individual, like Mr. Bertarelli, is to inject a larger measure of democracy into the America's Cup. The Deed of Gift places responsibility in the hands of the Defender to run a fair event, favored towards the defender within reasonable limits. Mr. Bertarelli has grossly failed in this responsibility and in his overall stewardship of the Cup. Its time for new management.
Perhaps I'm missing something here, but the America's Cup seems to be headed in the direction of the professional sport league ....like soccer, hockey or baseball...where you buy a sport franchise and develop a professional team....participate in a periodic (annual or bi-annual etc.) competition followed by a final playoff to determine a championship team...we have quite a few world leagues already set-up and running...of course making money or profit is one of the purposes of the sport league...another purpose is to provide superb sport entertainment to devoted fans...subsequently the America's Cup Deed of Gift philosophy requires a major change to accommodate a sport business... business for profit requires negotiation of equitable profit sharing amongst the owners of the sport league....I think we are at the beginning of such a process...
Malin - Just proves that T'aint no good idea goes unpunished
Nice Try !
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