Commentary: America's Cup faces big task
“This week's America's Cup World Series on the San Francisco Bay — followed by next summer's actual America's Cup — is the most extreme and precarious sports experiment on water. Ever,” writes Mark Purdy, a columnist for the Mercury News.
"I really believe this is a turning point," said Bruno Troublé, a former America's Cup skipper and now an impresario/spokesman for Louis Vuitton, a major sailing sponsor. "There are a lot of big changes."
The biggest change: For once, sailing is trying to expand its narrow bandwidth of followers into more of a broadband audience.
Or to put the mission more simply: By bringing the world's fastest boats to San Francisco Bay and promoting the America's Cup as a great spectator and television viewing experience, the sport's establishment aims to convince football and baseball fans to also go spinnaker crazy.
