By Alexander Smith
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Ben Ainslie expects to announce within weeks who will bankroll his next America's Cup campaign, as well as the team he has on board for the 2027 event in Naples,
Italy.
Ainslie, who as well as being the most successful Olympic sailor also lifted the "Auld Mug" in 2013 with Oracle Team USA, has made it his goal to "bring the Cup home" to Britain, where it was first contested off the south coast in 1851.
"It's coming very soon ... within the next two to four weeks, we'll have more to say on that," Ainslie told Reuters this week when asked who he has enlisted to back his latest campaign, after parting ways with INEOS in January.
"Watch this space," he added in an interview in London.
The 48-year-old said a long-term America's Cup partnership agreed last month with defenders New Zealand delivered much-needed certainty for financial backers.
"It's the last great sporting event that hasn't been properly commercialized, and that's the huge seismic shift that we're making," said Ainslie, describing the partnership as "a real game-changer in terms of the commerciality of the cup".
PUSHING IT TO THE MAX
In another significant shift, there is a team cost cap of 75 million euros ($87 million), a level which Ainslie expects to hit in his bid to secure sailing's most coveted trophy.
"In any other development sport where you've got a cap, you're going to push it to the max ... that's the nature of a technical sport, the more you can invest in the development, the better," said Ainslie, who along with the other teams must reuse the hull from the last cup.
Ainslie said his team had come a "huge way" in their continuing development over more than a decade, but it would always be tough to beat New Zealand, who won the trophy for a third time in a row in Barcelona last year.
"Yes, it's going to be difficult. The last 12 months have been difficult, but you know, I think we've... got every chance in the next cup and also just as importantly setting ourselves up for the long term," Ainslie said.
Asked who he expects to be lining up against for the right to challenge New Zealand, Ainslie said the Italian and French teams from the last event would be taking part and he hoped that the Swiss would also be on board.
He is hopeful that American Magic, which last month said they would not compete, might yet make it to Naples and said he had heard "some rumours" about a late Australian entry.
As for whether he will be helming, or step aside as he has done for his SailGP team, Ainslie is keeping everyone guessing.
"I'd love to do that (steer), but... it's not what I would love to do, it's what's best for the team," said Ainslie.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Toby Davis)
