World Yacht Racing Forum |
E’ in corso di svolgimento a Monaco la seconda edizione del World Yacht Racing Forum, convegno in programma per due giorni a Montecarlo dove si discute del presente e del futuro della vela agonistica mondiale.
Estrapolo qualche passaggio:
“The economy aside, our sport has never been that strong”’, observed keynote speaker Tom Whidden, the President of North Sails. “The number of boats and events is increasing, and their management is often extremely well executed. Any business can learn from a well run sailing campaign.”
One of the highlights of the day was the presentation by sports marketing expert Richard Moore (CEO; Capitalize), who confirmed that the global Sports business has been less affected than other industries by the worldwide economic crisis. “The sport industry has increased by 0,4% this year and the predictions for next year are for an increase of 11,2%. However”, he added, “the sport of sailing represents only a marginal percentage of this pie.”
Indeed, the sport faces several fundamental issues. “In most disciplines, the revenue is split in three equal thirds that come from hospitality, gate revenues and sponsorship. However sponsorship represents most of the revenue in sailing, and this situation is potentially dangerous.”
Managing Director of IFM Sports, Ulrich Lacher confirmed that the yacht racing industry doesn’t sit in still waters. “Your sport is difficult to understand”, he told the audience. “There are too many series, too many events, different types of boats… What sponsors want nowadays is to know exactly what return they can expect. You need to tell them precisely what your potential is, and what return you can offer them. The potential of sailing is massive yet largely unexploited. The strengths of the sport are the business opportunities it provides, the emotions it generates and the hospitality platform it offers.”
Mark Turner explained that the key to success is to set clear and realistic objectives. Some figures speak by themselves: 650’000 people visited Galway during the Volvo Ocean Race stopover; 80’000 people came to Almeria for the Extreme Series and the sailing events held on the mountain lake Traunsee generated 10’000 overnights in the area. “It took us three years to turn the event from a regatta to a business”, commented the Austrian event organiser Christian Feichtinger. “It generated a value of over 1,4 million Euros.”
Other panellists such as Philippe Guigné (CEO, Many Players), insisted on the fact that virtual sailing (events coverage or games) opens the sport to a whole new audience. “Until now, people were watching sailing. Now they are actively participating: they have their own (virtual) boat and they choose their route. In reality, and thanks to the new technologies, 350’000 people took part in the last Vendée Globe.”
The second part of the Forum will begin tomorrow Thursday with a keynote speech by double Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux. Discussions on cost reduction measures, what sailing can learn from other sports and the place of multihull in the international sailing calendar will follow, whilst the exclusive America’s Cup presentations by Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth and the subsequent panel discussion with many America’s Cup potential Challengers will close the day and the event.
