With American Magic packing down after their disappointing Prada Cup exit, skipper Terry Hutchinson has offered his thoughts on the rising cost of participation in the America’s Cup.
Although their hopes of snagging the Auld Mug ended last weekend, the team will soon have to decide on whether they will be a part of the next challenge.
Hutchinson joined the calls of many other teams in suggesting that a spending cap on the next regatta could be a good way to keep costs down.
“Put a fixed number on it and say “this is all you can spend” and have PWC be the official accountants of the Americas cup and the penalty for breaching the salary cap is disqualification. Make it severe,” he said.
The team will send their AC75 back to the US, while the team stay on to fulfil their tournament obligations.
Despite being out of the running, American Magic will now eagerly await the outcome of this year’s America’s Cup.
Should Team New Zealand successfully defend their title, teams could expect to be use the same AC75 template for the next challenge.
Should Luna Rossa or Team UK pull off a victory however, Hutchinson says the costs could increase even further.
“If INEOS or Luna Rossa win, and they change the boat, that’s going to make the next one expensive too, because then you are back into a development.
Hutchinson also said that the financial impact was particularly hard on his team in the build-up to their America’s Cup campaign.
“For us in particular, because we were under a new umbrella, we incurred a lot of infrastructure costs and a lot of build up costs,” he said.
“We operated on two different continents, so that was expensive. We operated in two different venues in the United States, that was expensive because you’re moving."
Hutchinson’s crew now face the arduous task of packing their entire base down, all while their cup rivals continue their campaign preparations in the distance.
Luna Rossa and INEOS Team UK face off next week in the Prada Cup finals.
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