Team
NZ wins a panel case against Oracle
(09/20/01) (source
: NZHerald)
A cup arbitration panel
has ruled that the Team NZ own their old boats and
all the information about them. Oracle Racing queried
the status of the new Defender - suggesting they were
a different corporate entity from that which won the
cup last year - and asked the panel to clarify if
that meant Team NZ could not, therefore, have both
their old boats, NZL60 and NZL57, and their design
information.
Cup rules state a syndicate cannot buy "old" boats
and the rights to "plans, specifications and design
information" for those boats from another entity.
The rules were designed to ensure syndicates have
independent designers and do not share technology.
Oracle also asked for a ruling on whether they could
purchase the design data for four yachts they had
bought - the AmericaOne and Aloha boats from the last
cup's challenger series. Neither AmericaOne nor Aloha
are competing in the next cup.
The five-member panel, in an interim written ruling,
said the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron was the
defender of the cup, not Team New Zealand. It said
the squadron had submitted that Team New Zealand Ltd
was its agent, and the same entity which won the cup
in 1995 and 2000. The panel said the yachts and design
information remained the property of Team New Zealand
Ltd.
In the same time, Oracle have been told they will
be breaching cup rules if they purchase the design
information for AmericaOne or Aloha boats. The panel
did not say whether performance and testing data was
covered by its ruling.
It has asked syndicates to make submissions on that
issue before it releases its final ruling.
It is exactly the halfway point between winning
the last America's Cup and the next defence in February
2003. The team members' return from the America's
Cup 150th jubilee in Cowes will herald the start
of the countdown to the cup.
Lost momentum equated to time - time that should
have been spent fundraising and simply getting on
with the job of defending the cup was spent fighting
to keep team members on board and rebuilding. Since
then it has been all hands on deck to make up for
lost time, working into the night, on weekends and
public holidays - even sailing in the chill of winter
- to catch up.
Financially, Team NZ have secured a little over
70 per cent of the money they need to cover the
defence and running the event. Team NZ is expected
next week to name Air New Zealand as the second
of its five America’s Cup 2003 event sponsors, joining
Fuji Xerox. This Monday, Air New Zealand is inviting
business representatives and media to the Team New
Zealand base for an “official announcement of this
significant partnership.” Air New Zealand and Fuji
Xerox were event sponsors during the last America’s
Cup.
Air New Zealand’s announcement will be another piece
in the funding puzzle for Team New Zealand, with
the five event sponsors crucial to its defence of
the cup. The other three event sponsors, as opposed
to the family of five that sponsor Team New Zealand,
are expected to be named before the end of the year.
Ross Blackman is confident that all the funding
will be there, under the Christmas tree. "It's absolutely
brilliant that we got the Family of Five back. It
indicated to the general market that we fulfilled
our promise to our loyal sponsors. "We couldn't
have given a better signal to potential sponsors
- the people who know you the longest, love you
the most." Signing German software giant SAP was
"the icing on the cake".
New skipper Dean Barker says his sailing crew are
a lot further ahead in ability than he expected.
Two-thirds of the sailing crew this time don't know
what it's like to be part of a losing cup campaign.
The sailors meet at the gym before dawn, then have
breakfast at the base. Olympic rowing champion Rob
Waddell, the new grinder , is in charge of making
sure there is enough toast and cereal to go around.
They stay out on the black boats as long as the
winds are kind, and that can be until the sun sets.
It will be about a year before anyone gets to
see Team NZ's first battleship for 2003. The new
black boats are taking shape - at least in the mind's
eye of the designers. "We've reached the critical
phase - we're narrowing down our choices," says
Mike Drummond, a principal designer and navigator.
The design team have made four trips to England
in the past year, testing models at the Wolfson
Unit at the University of Southampton.
Designers are secretive - there's not much they
will reveal at this stage. Drummond admits, though,
that they are quietly happy with what they had learned
after a year's training in the old boats, with a
few tweaks.
Sailing on the Hauraki Gulf in the last year's black
boats begins again in October, when many of the
challengers will have set up base in Auckland. Construction
of the first boat will start early next year.
A
Credit card for Team New Zealand
(08/09/01) (source
: Delphi
Forum)
A note (by Cheryl) from
NZ Herald 9.08.01
American Express and Team New Zealand yesterday launched
a co-branded credit card, giving the local America’s
Cup defence an undisclosed percentage of all purchases
made using it.
Points amassed on the card can be redeemed for Team
NZ merchandise.
One-boat
campaign for Team NZ ?
(06/16/01) (source
: nbr.co.nz)
Team New Zealand might
by stuck with a one-boat campaign unless it boosts
sponsorship levels. The warning from chief executive
Ross Blackman (pictured) comes despite the involvement
of German software giant SAP, which has come in as
the fifth member of the family of five after TVNZ
stepped aside.
Mr Blackman said that there was a substantial hole
in the America's Cup defence budget and if it was
not plugged Team New Zealand would be forced to sail
a one-boat campaign. "We've still got a major [headache]
but we're definitely over halfway, getting close to
65% [of the budget target]. "[We need] a combination
of event sponsors ... and additional funding to come
out of suppliers' contracts," Mr Blackman said. "We're
looking for [product] and cash contributions."
He said that if funding was sorted within the next
seven months, "we will be in good shape. "We will
make decisions next year whether we can afford to
build two boats or not," he said. "Two boats are preferable,
you need two boats to win."
That decision would be made by February or March next
year and if there was still "a substantial hole in
our budget we will have one boat," Mr Blackman said.
"We'll still be there and we'll still be strong. "Our
plan is to do it properly. We're really pleased at
the progress but it will probably take until the end
of this year [to reach budget funding levels].
Mr Blackman would not reveal figures but said the
cost of defending the cup was 50% more than last time.
He attributed much of the increase to the big players
such as Oracle that are now involved in the America's
Cup, forcing other syndicates to compete, and the
massive pay rises to stop Team New Zealand sailors
being lured away by overseas challengers.
German
giant new cup family member
(05/12/01) (source
: NZ
Herald.com)
Team New Zealand have signed German software
giant SAP to the "family of five" sponsorship spot
left vacant by Television New Zealand. The multimillion-dollar
package gives SAP exclusive naming rights on the Team
New Zealand spinnakers as well as sharing sponsorship
signs with Telecom, Toyota, Lotto and Steinlager on
the hulls and mainsails of the black boats.
The deal is a big boost for the New Zealand campaign
to retain the America's Cup in 2003.
ASAP co-chairman Hasso Plattner told the Herald last
month that talks with Team New Zealand about a major
sponsorship deal had broken down, but it was still
interested in a minor sponsorship role. But Team New
Zealand chief executive Ross Blackman said Mr Plattner's
comments were made in the context of market rumours
that SAP was looking at a sponsorship figure that
exceeded the syndicate's whole campaign budget.
SAP
is just a minor sponsor for TNZ
(04/25/01) (source
: NZ
Herald)
Team New Zealand have
missed out on a sponsorship deal with the German computer
giant SAP, leaving a multimillion-dollar cash gap
for the next America's Cup defence.
SAP, the world's third-largest software company, had
been in talks with TNZ about stepping into the prime
"family of five" sponsorship spot left vacant by Television
New Zealand. But SAP co-chairman Hasso Plattner told
that talks with TNZ about a major sponsorship deal
had broken down. Discussions had since resumed, Plattner
said, but SAP was interested only in signing up for
a minor sponsorship role.
Although Mr Plattner is an enthusiastic sailor his
yacht Morning Glory won the 1998 Sydney-to-Hobart
race he said a deal with Team NZ would be based purely
on potential brand exposure for SAP.
Sponsorship requirements to pay for the 2003 campaign
are tipped to be as high as $85 million - up about
80 per cent - leaving a question mark over who will
pick up the slack. TVNZ announced this month that
it would retain broadcasting rights for the 2003 campaign,
but was pulling its One logo from the sails and side
of the black boat challenge "because Team NZ requires
a considerably higher level of sponsorship than in
previous campaigns."
Rick Ellis, the state-owned broadcaster's chief executive,
said the move would help Team NZ's defence by opening
the door to additional sponsorship. Team NZ have never
detailed their sponsorship figures, but TVNZ, Telecom,
Steinlager, Lotto and Toyota are believed to have
contributed about $5 million each to Team NZ's last
campaign. Team NZ chief executive Ross Blackman said
that talk of a deal with SAP was speculation.
Last May, the Government negotiated a $5.6 million
deal with TNZ after key figures Brad Butterworth and
Russell Coutts defected to a Swiss syndicate. Sport
Minister Trevor Mallard said the extra cash was intended
to stem the flow of Team NZ members to foreign challengers.
Last night, Mr Mallard would not comment on whether
the Government might step in again to bail out Team
NZ if a new sponsor could not be found. "I am in relatively
frequent contact with Team NZ, but it is inappropriate
for me to comment on the state of play of any of their
individual negotiations."
A Team NZ spokesman said that sponsorship negotiations
were continuing and an announcement on a new family-of-five
sponsor would be made once a deal was struck.
TVNZ
drops AC sponsorship
(04/13/01) (source
: NZ
Herald.com)
Television New Zealand,
a sponsor of Team New Zealand since 90, says it will
not be sponsoring Team New Zealand in the 2003 America's
Cup.
Although the TV network is leaving the "family of
five" sponsors, it will retain broadcasting rights
to the regatta. TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis said
Team NZ has increased sponsorship fees considerably,
and his company's withdrawal would enable the America's
Cup defenders to seek additional funding. "New Zealanders
are well aware of TV One's role in bringing the America's
Cup into their homes," Elllis said. "We don't need
to take valuable signage space to get that message
across, but we have retained all the commercial benefits
of our association with Team New Zealand." .
SAP backing
for Team NZ in wind (04/11/01) (source
: NZ
Herald)
Team New Zealand is
set to benefit from an off-the-water battle between
software industry giants Oracle and SAP. Word from
the waterfront is that Germany's SAP, the world's
third-largest software company with revenues last
year of 6.27 billion euros ($13.8 billion), will sign
a multimillion-dollar deal to sponsor the New Zealand
defence of the America's Cup. .
That means if Larry Ellison's Oracle challenge reaches
the finals, it will find the name of his biggest rival
on the side of the black boat. Mr Ellison, a keen
yachtsman, took part in the Sydney-Hobart race in
1999. But he was not able to match the achievement
of SAP co-chairman Hasso Plattner, who won the race
the previous year in record time in his yacht Morning
Glory. SAP also sponsored the handicap winner of the
last Sydney-Hobart, SAPAusmaid, and Mr Plattner has
been involved in most of the big-boat overseas series
around the world. "
