Some years ago, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Ron McLean, the TV host of Hockey Night in Canada, on a flight from Philadelphia to Ottawa. (He is the straight guy to Don Cherry's noisemaking, and they make a fine team.) To my surprise, Ron told me that in summer, he races, and it sounds like he does excellent bow work on a J24, Toronto Harbour weekly keelboat or something like that.
We both agreed that TV coverage for any kind of sailboat racing really sucks. His answer was that #1, we need BIG TIME commercial sponsorship, (dream on guys,) and #2, it needs HUGE resources, like ten powerboats out on the water, with six TV camera/sound/technical people on each boat, a studio tractor-trailer etc, all for maybe a 30 second clip on the 11 pm news!
The only REALLY good TV coverage that I recall, was sponsored coverage (ABC) of the Gary Jobson hosted America's Cup in New Zealand, a couple of years ago. Remember that each America's cup contender had around six videocams on board, a dual live GPS set up hooked up to a BIG computer so that Gary could commentate live in real time as they tacked, all with live computer simulations. That must have been a HUGE investment, and they set a wonderfully high standard.
IMHO, folks like those wonderful people who raised $300 K could try and get a sponsor (?Budweiser?) to cover the TV costs of a National Event, and then 'co-sell' the TV rights to The Outdoor Channel or TSN or someone. Matt may be able to help hook up some of his contacts with National or HRA Race Committees. or folks like Brian Joder may have contacts. What are your thoughts, guys? Even the TV coverage of the Volvo 40 Series was sooooo light, it was hard to find.
Every year, in late August, CORK (The Canadian Olympic Regatta at Kingston,) offers the best sailing in most classes, from Optimists to Laser Youth, Laser Adult, Cats, Albacores, 420's, 505 etc. Kingston, at the eastern edge of Lake Ontario, is one of the sailing capitals of the world, and has wonderful people, great sailing, and CORK is a world class event. Try and find TV coverage. Locally, they get maybe 30 seconds of airtime at 6pm and two minutes at 11 pm.
Anybody know the head honcho at a beer company or an auto company?
Keep sailing
Guys like NASCAR have done such a superb job of marketing, and they were smart about it. They now have so many dollars behind them, may
_________________ 2015 H16, with spin, SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..." 'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'
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