America’s Cup i siffror

he 2013 America’s Cup was a revolution in the sport. The legacy of the America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay is bringing the racing to the fans and then delivering fantastic 50 mph boats, enthralling racing, ground-breaking television graphics and the sports comeback story of the century.

“This regatta has changed sailing forever. More people watched the first race of this America’s Cup than all of the America’s Cups in history, so I think it’s a success,” said Larry Ellison, whose vision of high-speed, wing sail catamarans racing in the tight confines of San Francisco Bay was realized this month.

The contest for the oldest trophy in international sport was completely modernized with innovation and technology.

Investment in television graphics and production meant new fans could instantly recognize and understand what was happening on the water. The AC Liveline technology behind the graphics won an Emmy Award and changed the way the sport is viewed on television.

“I think about this regatta and what it means to sailing,” said Ellison. “I think it was absolutely spectacular. If a bunch of kids are inspired to go sail, I’m a happy guy.”

Here are the numbers behind the event:

203 countries broadcast the America’s Cup on television
America’s Cup broadcast in news bulletins globally 15,000 times
Over 320,000 downloads of the America’s Cup app
Over 1 million visitors to the official public sites in San Francisco at America’s Cup Park and America’s Cup Village. Hundreds of thousands more viewed the racing from the city front
Nearly 10,000 hospitality guests
Over 5 million unique visitors to AmericasCup.com in September and over 45-million page views during the Summer of Racing (July 1 to September 26)
24.8 million views of videos on YouTube
Over 100 million minutes of videos viewed in the past month
575 accredited media, from 32 countries
A 19 show America’s Cup Concert Series
Over 25% of the population of New Zealand watched the racing broadcast live during the America’s Cup Finals

The Cup is the oldest major trophy in sport… Pushed into a postmodern place (New York Times)

Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts got it right. The staid old America’s Cup can be an adrenalin rush (SI.com)

America’s Cup: Do you believe in miracles? (USA Today)

The epic battle over the past few days has been a major vindication of the vision of how to modernize the competition (Reuters)

What has made this year’s America’s Cup truly breathtaking is the television coverage (The Times)

A comeback for the ages (CNN)

The greatest comeback in sports history (Jay Leno, The Tonight Show)

Amazing television? Check? Crowds on the waterfront? Check. Exciting racing? Check and double check (Huffington Post