Cup Defense Costs No Problem, Port Boss Says

The chairman of the San Diego Unified Port District, in his first public comments since returning from fact-finding journey to Fremantle, Australia, said Saturday he thinks the cost of providing facilities in San Diego for a possible America’s Cup defense will be less than the previously estimated $25 million.

How much lower Dan Larsen didn’t say. But Larsen, who was accompanied to Australia by fellow Commissioner Raymond Burk, said, “I really don’t see any problems. We’re really not talking about all that money people keep talking about. I don’t know where that came from.”

The $25-million estimate originated with Malin Burnham, president of Sail America, the fund-raising organization for Dennis Conner and his Stars & Stripes.

Larsen, speaking on the Lindbergh Field tarmac as he awaited Conner and his crew for Saturday’s homecoming, said, for example, that the large media center necessary to cover America’s Cup could be housed at the B Street Pier.

“We have a lot of empty buildings around the port right now,” Larsen said. “For example, the warehouse on B Street Pier, part is being used as a cruise terminal, but the other is empty. That would be a perfect place for the media center.”

Because of the strong intervention of corporate America into this year’s America’s Cup contest, Larsen said, the Port District could expect significant involvement by major companies.

“I think a lot of things can be donated or furnished by the corporations for the advertising value they are going to get out of it,” he said. But he added that there would still be a need for the district to build facilities.

“But basically, all we’re talking about furnishing is just a flat pad and space with dock facilities--and that’s not much of an expenditure,” Larsen said. “We’ll get some of that back by leasing that property to them (the sailing teams) while they are here, and it will be able to be used in the future for other things, so it’s not money thrown away.

“It’s a question of putting some of these facilities in now, rather than five years from now.”

The Australians, Larsen found, prepared Fremantle for the Cup races by having some of their port tenants sublease space to the syndicates and by building more piers, some of which were scheduled to be built but whose timetable was accelerated by the races.

On Monday, Larsen and Burk will meet with the Port District’s executive director, Don Nay, and his staff to tell them what they learned in Fremantle so the district, which has already embarked on a preliminary study of potential dockside sites, can incorporate the information into its work.

So far, the Port District has determined that the most suitable sites for the racing syndicates are north of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, but it has yet to pinpoint any specific area.

Larsen said his visit to Fremantle convinced him, “If we can get our act together, it will be here.”