Galván was formerly Chief Marketing Officer of Euroleague Basketball for over five years and during this period he was also a member of the Board of Directors at ESA (European Sponsorship Association).

The news comes after Volvo Ocean Race organisers announced that Greg Miall would join the team as Commercial Director, another appointment from outside the sailing community. The Volvo Ocean Race is sending a clear message that they want to be one of the best sporting events in the world, not just the best sailing event in the world.

Pedro Galván Paris  has an exceptional background in Strategic and Operative Marketing as well as in Sports Marketing, having ESADE and IESE degrees. He has also taught in several premier business schools and spoken at conferences on sports marketing. His role encompasses all Marketing and Communication output from the Volvo Ocean Race.

During his time at Euroleague Basketball Galván focused heavily on the sports marketing and partnerships agreements, especially concentrating on the brand building experience. He said:

“I think the Volvo Ocean Race has huge potential to increase its growth on the world’s stage as a premier sporting event and I am looking forward to being an active part of this. I want to increase awareness of the race for all audiences across the board, not only for the sailing fans but also for the general public. The race has such a capacity to capture the hearts and imaginations of people and we want to spread that globally as we did at Euroleague Basketball.”

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad has been employing the services of top headhunting firm, Egon Zender International to procure his new team for the 2011-12 race. The appointment of Galván completes the Directorial staff for the Volvo Ocean Race. Frostad said:

“I believe we have the best possible person in Pedro to develop our Marketing and Communications in the future. I am looking forward to working with him on our strategy for the next race and elevating the race to new levels.”

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Emirates Team New Zealand will enter the 2011-12 edition of the race in conjunction with Real Club Nautico Palma. Reports from Spain say that the team will be backed by shoe company ‘Camper’. Team NZ spokesman Warren Douglas has denied any deal has been signed, but the two parties have scheduled an announcement for 5pm today (Monday)

The NZ America’s Cup challenger has announced that the new official technical clothing supplier will be Gill. The word technical suggests that the door has been left open for a more fashion oriented brand to supply the team with off-the-water kit.

Gill, which is currently supporting the UK tri-services project; exercise Transglobe, will be supplying a range of if its technical product for both the prestigious Louis Vuitton Trophy events during 2010, and the TP52 taking part in this seasons Audi Medcup.

Emirates Team New Zealand Managing Director Grant Dalton said he is pleased to welcome Gill to the team.

“The partnership brings together Emirates Team New Zealand and Gill, an acknowledged world leader in research, development, design and production of high-performance technical sailing clothing. Gill is a brand the team is proud to wear.”

Founder and Chairman of Gill, Nick Gill commented

“we have been developing high performance technical clothing for exactly these environments and this partnership offers a great opportunity to have the gear on the water with a fabulous team which are at the absolute pinnacle of performance sailing. Our new Race Collection for example has been developed specifically for this area of the sport. In elite events such as these it is the details that make the difference between winning and losing. Our high performance garments will be exposed to the race environment which they were designed for, we trust that they will excel and hope that they may even make the difference that turns a 2nd into a 1st.”

This was obviously a view taken from the point of view of a non-American fan, or the Commercial Director of a team like Emirates Team New Zealand or TEAMORIGIN. Our argument was that a multichallenger event may stop these teams from disspearing altogether, putting more pressure on an already depressed industry.

But why should businessmen Larry Ellison and Ernesto Betarelli care about other team’s sponsors? This is a great sponsorship opportunity for their commercial partners. If I was the Marketing Director of BMW, a DOG match with only one other opponent guarantees more share of media coverage. Instead of being 1 of 20 potential sponsors, I am one of two. 50% of the coverage of a DOG match is about my brand.

Here is an opportunity for any media that still care about the America’s Cup to write about a handful of commercial partners for 10 months, without having to devote column inches, airtime or web-pages to other team’s sponsors and distractions.

It’s something we really should have thought about earlier, but I guess we were in a more ‘winning by sharing’ frame of mind. Given some of the statements from series like the iShares Cup and sponsors of the Vendee Globe, we really should have taken a step into the shoes of Alinghi and BMW ORACLE earlier.

Mark Turner, CEO of OC Group, has said that the iShares Cup should have a maximum number of boats per series. This is because on the one hand, eXtreme 40 catamarans at close quarters could get messy, but it also guarantees sponsors a certain share of the coverage. The Vendee Globe has also used the same argument – 30 boats is the maximum that can be accommodated on the docks at the start, but also being 1 out of 30 sponsors means your campaign gets lost in the noise of brands.

Even Louis Vuitton could sign up to that. How exclusive can you get? No dog food or pizza sponsors, no riff-raff, just an American billionaire versus a European billionaire – just like the good old days.

So, providing BMW ORACLE and Alinghi keep some high profile Kiwis and Aussies to guarantee a little bit of interest from fans in the southern hemisphere, and choose a venue in Europe to keep a couple of casual fans interested in that part of the world – the DOG match could be a sponsor’s dream and deliver real return on investment for a lucky few.

Scott Mcleod – Chairman of Force10 Marketing says different : Click to read what he has to say.

It wasn’t just fans at the track that were thought about. ALMS offered live web radio streaming, live timing and scoring worldwide and were the first American motorsport series to offer real-time SMS text message updates. The theory behind the text messages was that some fans couldn’t be in front of their tv or computer for the whole 12 hours of an endurance race, so if they were in the hardware store or shopping for groceries, they could still stay in touch.

Contrast this mentality with events in Auckland over the last couple of days where the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series has been designed to showcase America’s Cup style sailing, a luxury goods manufacturer and the country of New Zealand. Alinghi, defender of the America’s Cup, took a ‘competitive’ decision not to compete against hosts Emirates Team New Zealand.

Alinghi’s official statement read:

With a competitive elimination round coming up in the next few days Alinghi had everything to lose and nothing to gain in racing the home team Emirates Team New Zealand.

Alinghi’s US skipper Ed Baird was left to defend the decision saying:

‘We are loving this regatta, the racing has been great and the summer conditions have been fantastic . . . Normally we would jump at the chance to sail against Team New Zealand as we have so many times in the past, so we are sorry to have to make this strategic choice.’

Alinghi’s behaviour, though technically legal, shows that sailing has a lot to learn about being a spectator sport. It is unthinkable that a professional sports team like Manchester United or The New York Yankees would refuse to play a game against a rival based on the argument that ‘they had nothing to gain.’ This is partly because they play in stadiums, where fans buy tickets to watch the game – fans are quantifiable, they are promised a show and promoters have a duty to provide the advertised entertainment. These professional teams also have a duty to sponsors and television schedules. What do they have to gain by playing a dead rubber? more exposure, more glory, more money.

We asked Alinghi if they had any comment to make to fans who might have travelled to New Zealand to watch racing, or other fans who follow the racing around the world? We asked if fans were considered when making the decision not to race?

The response rehashed the statement of the day before.

Sailing is a big deal in Auckland, so naturally there was a sense that Alinghi was at the very least being unsportsmanlike. Bob Fisher wrote:

This was hardly a gentlemanly action by the holders of the America’s Cup to deny the Kiwis the opportunity to race against them for the first time since they met in July 2007. It had been hailed as the Match of the Day by the local press and broadcasters and one that the spectators were ready to appreciate.

After all there were Auckland citizens who through financial reasons were denied the opportunity to cheer their team in Valencia and who were gathering on North Head for this match. Their disappointment was immense and calls were made to those close to the event complaining about the behaviour of the Swiss team, whose skipper would have known the full effect of the decision not to race.

Emirates Team New Zealand Skipper Dean Barker went further:

I was disgusted. The racing has been close, competitors are enjoying themselves and the public are being treated to some great sailing. Why would they introduce a niggle into a very successful regatta? It’s all about the spirit of the event. It’s all about doing what right for yachting. Their action was insulting and disrespectful to our team and to the New Zealand people. We were really wanted to race them today, the first time since July 2007. We don’t know what their agenda is. If they were taking a swipe at us they missed the target and whacked the thousands of New Zealand yachting fans who are following the action in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and wanted to see two great teams go head to head. It inexplicable when the team pulls a stunt like this. It’s just bad sportsmanship.”

It’s hard to see how Alinghi’s actions cannot be seen as bringing the sport of sailing into disrepute. In a time when people are trying to raise sponsorship and awareness of yacht racing, actions like this give potential supporters an excuse not to participate. If one of the most visible teams can decide not to compete, how can we convince sponsors, media and fans that they should comit time and money to watching?

Even the most self-centered sports realise that without fans they will die. Formula One teams have traditionally not thought about grass-roots fans. I have spoken to commercial directors of F1 teams who have said “spending money on developing merchandise and websites doesn’t make the car go any faster”. But as racing became procession like, with limited if any overtaking, fans started to stop watching. Without viewers, sponsor returns fell and the teams suddenly realised that the fans were important. In recent years, F1 took the unprecedented action of surveying fans to ask what they would change about the sport. F1 in 2009 will be different – in no small part due to the fact that the sport listened to the fans.

In recent years, professsional sailing has relied on the support and sponsorship of destinations using the sport to promote tourism. Yesterday on tis site, google ads were appearing for spectator cruises tied to Auckland travel packages. Perhaps the organisers of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series thought that no team would ever take the action Alinghi did, that it was just not the done thing. If yacht racing wants to continue to receive money from cities and national tourist boards, organisers need to punish teams that make decisions that affect the advertised entertainment.

The American Le Mans Series now use the slogan ‘World Class’. It’s too late for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, but perhaps savvy sailing promoters should adopt the mantra ‘For the Fans’.

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• Pataugas K-Challenge beat China team
• Emirates Team New Zealand beat Damiani Italia Challenge
• Team Origin beat Luna Rossa
• Alinghi beat Greek Challenge (who were awarded a score of -1 following a collision)

http://www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com/

Pool A

• Team New Zealand 
• BMW Oracle Racing 
• K-Challenge 
• Damiani Italia 
• China Team

Pool B

• Alinghi 
• Greek Challenge 
• Team Origin 
• Team Shosholoza 
• Luna Rossa 

While some teams have had a lot of experience in these boats, others have had only a few days.

Gavin Brady, once helmsman of BMW ORACLE now helmsmen of Greek Challenge, pointed out that they had 5 years at the American team in order to get ready for the America’s Cup while the Greek team has only 5 days. Despite the fact there are more medalists on the Greek team than BMW Oracle, the learning curve is extremely steep.

Even Ben Ainslie, helmsman for Team Origin, has to take things slowly. The former second helmsman of Emirates Team NZ might know the boats and his kiwi opponents inside out, he will have to tame his aggressive sailing in order not to ruin the event by crashing the yachts on the first day

The battle of the world’s three sailing heavyweights – Barker, Coutts and Alinghi’s Brad Butterworth – is being dubbed the friendly game by Team New Zealand in an attempt to move on from the off water feuds over the next America’s Cup.

“There was a moment on the first day of sailing,” says Team New Zealand’s Managing Director Grant Dalton. “We were sailing against Russell and it was just cool to be out on the water again with these boats and things and thinking why, why did it need to get to this.”

But Grant Dalton knows that is not the only relationship that has suffered.

“It re-engages the public with this team and the sport because there is absolutely no doubt that it’s damaged,”

explains Dalton.

When the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was announced last September, 23 teams expressed their interest. Fourteen teams have confirmed they want to compete. With the number of participants being limited to 12, the last two entries have been placed on a waiting list. If, in the next month, one or more teams drop out, the teams in waiting will have the opportunity to fill the vacancy.

“The success of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series has exceeded our expectations. We are pleasantly surprised that the announcement of this event has created a sense of excitement and conciliation in the world of the America’s Cup,” said Yves Carcelle.

The teams will now start their preparations. They will arrive in Auckland on January 23rd in order to familiarise themselves with the boats.

Bruno Troublé, spokesperson for Louis Vuitton, said that the gathering of international teams and sailors which will convene in Auckland for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series is one of the most impressive ever brought together.

The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series is being organised in association with the New Zealand Government, Emirates Team New Zealand, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland City and Sky City Entertainment Group.

Alinghi, winner and defender of the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup is one of the confirmed participants.
Six daily match races are planned on short windward-leeward courses laid at the entrance to Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour, between Rangitoto Island and the city foreshore. There will be a daily draw to decide which yacht competing teams will sail that day.

BMW Oracle seem to have been left out in the cold after a meeting between eleven Americas Cup Teams in Geneva yesterday. Now that Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand have settled their differences, the GGYC backed team was conspicuous in its absence from the meeting to get the 33rd Edtion of the Cup on the water. 

Eleven teams met at the Société Nautique de Genève, the first of several Competitor Meetings to discuss returning the competition to the water as soon as possible. The meeting was called for by the Defender’s event organising entity AC Management and chaired by Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth.

The get-together follows a series of individual discussions between Alinghi and the challengers. At the top of the agenda was the need for a financially sustainable model that includes cost-containment measures, such as a one-boat campaign and the creation of a new class of race yacht; faster and more spectacular than the Version 5.0 used for the 32nd America’s Cup, but cheaper than the AC90 originally intended for the 33rd edition.

The new class would mean affordable participation for all existing teams, including the most recent entries, and will provide motivation for potential new challengers to join the 33rd America’s Cup, expected to take place in 2010.

At the end of the meeting, the eleven challengers present and the Defender signed a joint request addressed to BMW Oracle Racing and the Golden Gate Yacht Club asking them to withdraw their law suit and join the fair and constructive process of reviewing the applicable documents and schedule that will allow the America’s Cup to return to the water as soon as possible.

BMW Oracle’s political mastermind Tom Ehman said in a statment after the meeting:

We have offered repeatedly to drop our lawsuit if Alinghi commits to fair rules, and our offer still stands. We would like nothing better than to have a fully competitive multi-challenger America’s Cup on the water by 2010. We stand ready and willing to meet with Alinghi and all of the other competitors to discuss the future of the Cup, but without unreasonable pre-conditions.

BMW Oracle have done a pretty good job and portraying Ernesto Bertarelli and Alinghi as dictitorial and unfair in their approach to the 33rd Edition rules, but they will have a harder time demonising the UKs Team Origin and Emirates Team New Zealand who are parties to the letter.

Emitrates Team New Zealand Boss, Grant Dalton said today that Alinghi has committed to sending a competitive team to Auckland if the legal proceedings were withdrawn. Emirates Team New Zealand’s position has been confirmed in writing. 

“It is our view that this regatta – and Alinghi’s participation in it – is an important initiative towards repairing the harm that recent events have done to yacht racing at this level. For that reason we are prepared to respond positively to Alinghi’s commitment to the regatta by meeting its condition of discontinuing our proceedings.”

Dalton said the regatta promised to be a big event for New Zealand. Louis Vuitton and team are well down the track in organising it. We have an obligation to the many organizations and individuals who are now working with us to do anything we can to ensure its total success.

“For obvious reasons the regatta would not be the same without Alinghi’s participation. For a start our sailing team would like nothing more than meeting Butterworth and his team on Auckland Harbour in January-February.

The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series will be sailed from January 30 to February 14 2009.

Away from the public statements however things were different. Despite the conciliatory murmurings from BMW Oracle, they launched their 90 foot Trimaran in San Diego and refuse to drop their legal action. Despite parts of the Alinghi camp saying that everything would be negotiated with the teams, they have retreated to dictating terms. 

From our point of view, we can’t really tell who is being grown up about it, but suspect that over the last couple of days -both sides have fallen back into a position of churlishness. Perhaps we should blame the Australians. After all, the Americas cup just hasn’t been the same since the Aussies broke the unofficial rule – that the Americans never lose. Since then, there has been a pattern of the Americans resorting to legal solutions when things don’t go their way. 

That said, Alinghi have done a few things over recent days that make you wonder whether either of them should have any right to the custody of the competition. While Larry Ellison’s letter to the Alinghi chief read with a calm and collected tone, the response, released yesterday is more impassioned, definitely frustrated and a little desperate. Rather than make a comment on Bertarelli’s letter, we’ll let you make your own conclusions. (Full Letter).

Meanwhile a report in New Zealand’s Sunday Star Times says that Alinghi have given Emirates Team New Zealand an ultimatum – drop the lawsuit or be banned from the next competition. If correct, then it may be a sign that BMW are right and Alinghi will use new rules and friendly officials to get what they want. 

It certainly won’t win any hearts and minds with other teams. If Alinghi are prepared to kick out Team New Zealand and BMW Oracle, what’s stopping them using similar tactics on other teams later? 

So, while all the talking heads nod and smile and say they are willing to come to a solution, the reputation of the cup continues to weaken. Boys, Toys and egos…