Welcome Mat Out to America’s Cup : But First San Diego Has to Convince Itself the Game’s Worth the Candle

While Dennis Conner sails Stars & Stripes through the roller-coaster waves of the wind-swept Indian Ocean off Western Australia in pursuit of the sport’s grand prize, another competition is gradually unfolding back home.

If Conner wins the America’s Cup, he, his Sail America syndicate--the fund-raising arm for Conner’s effort--and the San Diego Yacht Club will face the decision of where to defend the cup in 1990 or 1991.

On the surface, San Diego should be a cinch, a slam dunk, a foregone conclusion. Conner, after all, is a local boy. The yacht club he represents and which he once headed as commodore is located here. And top officials of Sail America, starting with its president, Malin Burnham, are from San Diego.

Despite these facts, there is no guarantee the America’s Cup competition, and the $1 billion in local revenues that is expected to go with it--plus the international exposure a tourist city like San Diego covets--will take place here.

Already, in Rhode Island, where the cup races were held for more than 130 years until this year, there are moves to get the races back to Newport and Narragansett Bay. It is territory familiar to Conner, who has raced there many times in previous America’s Cup contests.

After Conner defeated New Zealand two weeks ago to reach the final, Rhode Island Gov. Edward DiPrete sent a telegram telling Conner he was welcome back in Newport and inviting him to meet with Rhode Island representatives, two of whom are now in Fremantle. To make its presence known, Rhode Island has bought advertisements in Australian newspapers with the logo, “Rhode Island--where America’s Club belongs.”

In addition, the governor has created a committee headed by former America’s Cup sailor Halsey Hereshoff to plot strategy in pursuing a cup defense.

“My feeling is that the cup is not committed to any community,” says Louis Fazzano, director of the Rhode Island office of economic development. “The state’s position at this time is that it will do whatever it can do to bring the race here . . . we’ll do whatever has to be done.”

Other places, such as Hawaii, where Conner practiced for this year’s America’s Cup, San Francisco, Long Beach and New Orleans have expressed an interest in the races to Sail America officials, although no one has yet made a serious proposal.

Although Sail America officials have been preoccupied with a last-minute fund-raising campaign that in the last two weeks has generated an average of $100,000 a day, money that will be used to make up the last $2.7 million of Conner’s $15 million Stars & Stripes budget, they say they want the America’s Cup defense in San Diego.

“Chances are 80% it will be in San Diego,” said Sandy Purdon, executive director of Sail America.

The city’s chances rest primarily on the San Diego Unified Port District, which controls most of the tidelands rimming San Diego Bay, to provide the necessary boat docks, cranes, sail lofts, media center and the like that are considered essential to hosting the cup races.

How that will be done and who will pay for it is the big unknown at the moment.

Burnham has estimated the cost to San Diego of putting on the America’s Cup at $25 million. But port officials and others pushing for the races say that without a detailed analysis, which is only now under way, there’s no way of knowing how much it would cost. Until recently, efforts at making San Diego the cup’s host had been lagging.

“Initially, they (San Diego officialdom) were kind of fuzzy about it,” Purdon said. “But that has changed drastically since Dennis made the finals.”

Part of that change is embodied in a contingent of San Diego public officials who are in Fremantle today assessing facilities and assuring Conner and Sail America officials that the city is serious about wanting to host the cup competition.

Among those Down Under are Port Commissioners Dan Larsen and Raymond Burk, San Diego City Councilman Bill Cleator and County Supervisor Brian Bilbray, who recently formed an America’s Cup Task Force. Larsen, Burk and Cleator were sent to the races by their respective political bodies. Bilbray’s way reportedly was paid privately.

Meanwhile, back in San Diego, the port officials are taking an inventory of several possible bayside locations that could be used by cup competitors. And John Sawicki, owner of Marine Engineering and Services Inc. in Coronado, is surveying several racing syndicates to find out what kind of facilities they require.

“We’re trying to show early in the game that we want this thing, and to do that we’re trying to find out exactly what is needed,” said Port Commissioner Louis Wolfsheimer. “I don’t think it would cost us that kind of money ($25 million) . . . but I don’t expect anyone from the port district to say, ‘Here’s the money, take what you want.’ ”

Don Nay, the port district’s executive director, says he and his staff have decided to concentrate on locations north of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, which are closest to the ocean, and in areas at least nine feet deep to accommodate the keels of the 12-meter racing boats.

But Nay, who looks at the prospect of hosting the races as a great opportunity for San Diego, says no one should minimize potential environmental obstacles that could be prevalent if, for example, extensive dredging or pile driving is necessary, or if clam beds or eel grass habitat is threatened.

Each potential location carries with it potential problems. And although the port district would be expected to provide racing facilities, permit approvals from a welter of government agencies--ranging from the Army Corps of Engineers to the California Department of Fish and Game--may also be necessary, a process that could be very time-consuming.

The Navy says it is willing to help but that it’s still too early to begin to plan its role in providing bayfront facilities, according to Cmdr. Mark Baker, spokesman for Rear Adm. Bruce Boland.

San Diego officials are pursuing the cup defense site for more than just the prestige, though there would be plenty of that. They are doing it for the money, and they base their case on a study done by the Center for Economic Research at the School of Business and Management at Chapman College in Orange County.

Prepared in the summer of 1985 for the Orange County-based Eagle syndicate, the study projected a total economic impact of $1 billion on the Southern California economy, principally in Orange County, if the cup races were held in Newport Beach.

That money would come in over 2 1/2 years, the study said, because racing syndicates traditionally arrive at the cup defense site a few years in advance to acclimate their crews and boats to the local sailing conditions.

The Chapman College report was based on the likelihood of 24 racing syndicates descending on Newport Beach. San Diego officials say that with the increased popularity of the sport caused by television coverage of the Australian races, as many as 30 syndicates may enter the next competition.

Each syndicate, according to the report, is like a small factory with 50 to 100 workers and multimillion dollar budgets, the funds for which are derived from private, corporate and individual contributions.

In addition, the America’s Cup could be expected to draw 1.6 million hard-core sailing zealots as well as another 4 million tourists who would attend the races and related activities, the report concluded.

“I look at this as a controlled tourist attraction,” said Supervisor Bilbray. “I believe the economic benefits would totally outweigh the disadvantages. This is a world-class event being placed in our hands.”

Such boosterism, however, has failed to sway San Diego’s top political leader, Mayor Maureen O’Connor. Although she says she supports having the cup competition in San Diego, she says it will have to be done without city money.

Just last week, for example, at the same meeting where more than 250 homeless people packed the City Council chambers to clamor for more emergency shelters, the council, at O’Connor’s urging, deferred a request that the city give Sail America $100,000.

“Basically, she feels it’s the port district’s responsibility. She doesn’t want to spend San Diego taxpayers’ dollars to bring it here,” said mayoral spokesman Paul Downey. “The mayor would rather use the money for things like (improving) sewage in the North City area. She is enthusiastic about the (cup) prospects here and will work for it, short of paying for it.”

According to Downey, citizen reaction to O’Connor’s stance has been favorable, as judged by telephone calls and letters supporting her position.

Some port and other public officials have talked about the prospect of garnering significant corporate donations--the way Los Angeles did for the 1984 Olympics--to help offset the costs of preparing and hosting a cup defense.

These officials contend that with the increased and dramatic on-boat television coverage of this year’s contest, the popularity of the America’s Cup races has been lifted to the new level of an international mega sporting event on a par with the World Cup and the Olympics.

U.S. corporations, guaranteed an American boat reaching the final if Conner wins, would most likely want to invest significant amounts of money advertising and sponsoring the next cup competition, these officials say.

Corporate involvement, however, would probably not be bound by location, and likely will occur wherever the races are held, be it San Diego, Rhode Island or Hawaii. Of more concern to those promoting San Diego is that television will play a key role in picking the next site.

“It’s the power of the dollar,” said Purdon, Sail America’s executive director. “If the television contract is significant, it could have an influence.” What TV wants, Stars & Stripes officials contend, is exciting racing like that now on exhibition in Australia, where big waves and 20-knot-plus winds have produced telecasts filled with drama and tension.

In contrast, winds in San Diego are considered much more benign, and not as likely to produce as scintillating a scenario. “It certainly won’t be as exciting in San Diego,” acknowledged Purdon.

ESPN, the cable sports network that paid Australia $650,000 for North American television broadcast rights, says it is neither interested nor is it proper for it to be involved in selecting a United States location.

“We can’t control that kind of stuff, nor should we,” said Chris LaPlaca, ESPN director of communications. “For us to say, ‘Look, the waves are six feet high at this place so the races should be held here,’ that’s ludicrous.”

“Our job is not to determine where events are held but to cover them,” LaPlaca said, noting that on top of paying for broadcast rights, ESPN is spending another $1 million in production costs.

As for sailing excitement, there’s no reason a San Diego America’s Cup competition should suffer because of moderate winds, according to Bruce Marek, a partner in Nelson-Marek Yacht Design in San Diego. Marek’s partner, Bruce Nelson, was a key designer of Stars & Stripes.

Boats would have to be designed for San Diego conditions, just as they were for those in Fremantle, according to Marek. In San Diego, that would mean shorter boats with more sail area and keels designed to shed kelp.

“It’s a little more exciting down there. Once you’re over 20 knots there are greater chances of gear failure or a guy falling off a boat. But I still think you could have a good series in San Diego,” Marek said.

The logistics of selecting a host site is governed by the “deed of gift,” according to Sail America officials. If Conner is victorious, a San Diego America’s Cup Defense Committee, composed of from seven to 11 people, would be formed within 30 days. Nominated by Sail America, this site selection committee would then be approved by the San Diego Yacht Club.

The committee would then have about 90 days to pick the site, a short time frame some port officials, such as Nay, say is impractical. According to Purdon, the committee could set up a list of criteria to help cities interested in hosting the races to formulate a bid.

“Or it may not put it out to bid and simply say, ‘San Diego is the one,’ ” he said.