Media giants in battle over cup

By Nick Perry

A scrap between two global media giants centring on a yacht's spinnaker is threatening television coverage of the America's Cup.

ESPN, the biggest sports cable network in the United States, is said to be just days away from signing an $8 million deal with cup organisers here and overseas for United States broadcasting rights.

But the network has threatened to pull out because of the involvement of its largest rival, Rupert Murdoch's Fox Sports Net. If it did pull out, the cup event - due to kick off in Auckland in eight months - could be severely hit if jumpy sponsors bailed out.

Insiders say Fox has been employing classic "sabotage marketing" by attempting to have its logos splashed all over ESPN's coverage.

Last month, cup challenger Young America, backed by the New York Yacht Club, signed a multi-million-dollar sponsorship deal with Fox. Part of the deal was for Young America to feature Fox logos on its spinnaker.

Yesterday, the executive director of the America's Cup Challenge Association, Dyer Jones, said it and other organisers had agreed to an ESPN request and would not allow challengers to show rival's logos. The good of all challengers came before that of any one team.

Mr Jones said that after signing the deal with ESPN, challengers would have just 30 days to resolve any outstanding issues.

International phone conferences between some of the major players this week, including ESPN, Young America and the association, are understood to have failed to resolve the issue of Young America's sponsorship.

Young America spokeswoman Jane Eagleson told the Washington Post this week that if Fox went, the syndicate would be losing its only "premier, partner-level corporate sponsor" - not to mention millions of dollars.

Speaking from ESPN headquarters in Conneticut yesterday, spokesman Chris LaPlaca said ESPN and event organisers were now "on the same page." But the network could still pull out if agreement was not reached.

Mr LaPlaca said it was planning to screen 80 hours of cup coverage.

But sources say the last two America's Cup regattas have generated only small interest in the US, and ESPN has barely broken even. If ESPN were to pull out now, it would have a disastrous effect on already jumpy sponsors and could severely reduce the scale of the event in Auckland.