Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Late last month, the International Herald Tribune pegged the long-term market value of this year's America's Cup in Valencia at $6 billion. If this is true, we're gong to buy a boat! Money grafs:

VALENCIA, Spain: The America's Cup will generate €6 billion (US$7.96 billion) and 61,300 jobs for Spain over the next eight years, according to a report released Monday. A document called "The economic impact of the America's Cup" analyzed the benefits of the sailing event between 2007 and 2015 on host city Valencia and the rest of Spain.

After spending more than €2 billion (US$2.65 billion) on infrastructure — including the building of the Port America's Cup, which is expected to host 1 million visitors over the event's three months — the province of Valencia is expected to gain €3.7 billion (US$4.9 billion) and generate more than 40,770 jobs, mostly within the service and industry sectors."

Not being great with numbers, Rainy Day is in no position to cry "fuzzy math!" here but the America's Cup gets hardly any TV money and that's what drives mega events today. Still, yachting does not need grubby TV fees to prosper. Remember?

"The rich are different from you and me." — F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Yes, they have more money." — Ernest Hemingway

BTW, if you'd like to compare the market value of top sporting events, check out this piece from Forbes.