Where's the cash?

GBR Challenge's search for funds has not been made easier by recent events.

With the world economy heading into recession and companies in Britain and abroad tightening their belts if not already laying people off, it is hardly a good time to be looking for commercial sponsorship for an America's Cup campaign.

Prior to the horrific events of September 11th in New York and Washington, sponsorship hunting was already difficult as fears of recession grew, but the terrorist attacks have made it much harder.

The GBR Challenge does not need a single pound from any outside source to complete its participation in next year's Louis Vuitton Cup because Peter Harrison has already said he will fund it in its entirety to the tune of something like £20 million.

However the British multi-millionaire has also made clear that he believes his role is to provide the capital to get the syndicate up and running - he has already spent £10.4 million doing that - and he now wants a commercial backer or group of companies to come in and help him pick up the rest of the tab.

The openly-stated goal of the syndicate this time round is to try and reach the four-boat semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton series, with the intention of setting up a more credible shot at the America's Cup itself at the following event or the one after that.

Harrison has warned several times in public comments that he will not bankroll a successive campaign on his own, if his vision and generosity this time, does not succeed in hooking substantial sponsorship support for this team.

The clear danger is that all the good work in training and design that has gone into this effort could go to waste if it is not followed up in four years time and we could see the GBR Challenge squad split up between rival syndicates, none of which are likely to be representing Britain.

The task of nailing sponsors is being led by Leslie Ryan who joined Harrison's outfit in June from a background in brand marketing in Formula 1 and previous America's Cup projects. Ryan acknowledges that the climate has deteriorated from a sponsor-hunting point of view but she is nevertheless, positive about her prospects of getting substantial backers involved by April when the syndicate's new boat is set to be launched.

"There is no doubt it is making things harder," she said referring to the recent events in America. "With the companies I had already started conversations with over the summer, those conversations are still progressing. The only affect on them is that the decision-making process has slowed slightly.

"Nobody who was interested is saying 'we were interested but we're not any longer'. However, starting new conversations with new companies is definitely harder. People are saying, 'yes, it's an interesting story, but it's not the right time for us.' They are saying 'come back in a month's time,'" she added.

Ryan is well aware that with war and hard times on the agenda, most companies would find it difficult to make a public commitment to something as extravagant and exclusive as the America's Cup, especially with its overwhelming association with private money. So she is talking to people on the basis that they may wish to delay a public announcement until the New Year or even later when general conditions may have improved.

Partly because Harrison's funding is already in place, she is not engaged in a desperate search for short-term cash. Instead she Ryan is concentrating on trying to encourage companies to identify a long-term interest which will see them back the current campaign but also commit to future follow-up efforts. It is for this reason that her preferred model is a "family-of-five" Team New Zealand-style group of sponsors who can each gradually scale up their expenditure over successive campaigns rather than relying on one major sponsor who may pull out altogether between events.

"The biggest thing I'm trying to get across is that the challenge is funded and moving forward anyhow and we are not looking for cash right now," Ryan said. "What we are really looking for is a long-term commitment. The only question is, do we lessen the amount of money to take partners in at premier level with a view to upping their investment next time?"

There were some fears that once the boats and the sailing team had gone to Auckland for their six-month winter training phase (which is about to begin), the "window" would start to close on Ryan in the sense that she would have nothing to show prospective backers here. However she says the "collateral and reputation" the team established during the America's Cup Jubilee and prior to that during its two-boat training schedule on the Solent, has already given the syndicate a higher profile than she was expecting. "This has been a huge plus to us," she said.

Overall the dream amount she is looking for is something like £10 million. But, short of that, partners in a "family-of-five" arrangement might come in for one-and-a-half million each.