2:48 AM Tue 23 Mar 2010 GMT
Have you signed contracts with Coutts and Spithill for your defence of the America's Cup?
Well, we haven't signed anybody. But I'm confident. We all get along. I think we all have the same vision for the 34th America's Cup and indeed for the America's Cup in general that I'd be stunned if this team broke up. Not only will we keep Jimmy and keep Russell, our team will be even stronger going into the 34th.
So you're committed to rules that will lower the bar?
Oh yeah. It shouldn't be about money. It should be a little bit about technology and a lot about sailing. And it's got to be a great experience for viewers. It's got to be something kids want to watch. Quite frankly when I'm watching the Olympics I watch downhill racing. My kids watch the snowboarders. Okay. We've got to pay attention to that.
I kind of like monohulls. All my racing experience is on monohulls. But if what the kids want to watch is multihulls because it's more exciting, we'll go multihulls. We've got to make this a great sport from the point of view of the participant, especially the kid who's just getting into the sport, and from the point of view of the viewer on television.
What other marketing ideas do you have?
It's got to be a commercially viable sport. Baseball is. Football is. Tennis is. We've got to attract a fan base. We have to make it interesting. We have to have interesting commentators. When the NFL put in that yellow first down line on the field, it gave the fan a little more insight as to what was going on during the play. We can provide that computer assistance, which is especially needed in sailing.
So just by the law of probability you're decreasing your chances of winning.
You bet. That's okay. All we care about is if we duly lose that we get a fair chance to win it back next time. That's all we want. We don't want to ever have to go to court again to get a fair set of rules.
What about the U.S. audience?
No sport can be successful without good TV coverage. The TV coverage of the America's Cup has been dismal in the United States. We can fix that easily. With a little bit of technology and care and attention I think we can make this incredibly exciting to kids. The sailors watch. But we've got to go beyond that. We've got to get the next generation interested.
The full interview is well worth the read - go to:
money.cnn.com/2010/03/22/technology/oracle_ellison_americas_cup.fortune/
by Adam Lashinsky, Fortune
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Sailing
