Gameday Merchandising is "in the midst of a legal battle" with America's Cup organizers and has "gone to court to try to put the Golden Gate Yacht Club on the hook for the bill," according to court records cited by John Cote of the S.F. CHRONICLE. The "former merchandising partner for the prestigious and seemingly snake-bit" event has "initiated arbitration against the America's Cup Event Authority after it stripped the company of the main merchandising agreement for the regatta, which was signed" in March '12. Gameday is seeking $4.2M in damages and has gone to S.F. Superior Court "seeking a judge's order that Golden Gate Yacht Club is responsible for paying any money the company is awarded in arbitration." America's Cup Event Authority CEO Stephen Barclay said that Gameday's merchandising deal was "rescinded after the company began selling logo products that hadn't been approved and used unauthorized retailers." Barclay said, "They were making stuff without our approval, and we were finding the stuff in places that we didn't think were appropriate, for example Walgreens." Neither a spokesperson for Gameday nor its attorneys "could be reached for comment" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/29).
WHISTLING FOR A WIND: In S.F., Eric Young cited America's Cup officials as saying that 500,000 people have "turned out so far to watch the races" from Marina Green and Piers 27-29. The officials "expect at least 500,000 more to come out during the finals" from Sept. 7-21 as New Zealand seeks to win the America’s Cup from Oracle Team USA. An economic forecast earlier this year "predicted 2 million people would watch the races -- a tally that race organizers said they might draw when including people watching from places other than the Cup’s two main venues." This staging of the America’s Cup has "attracted fewer participants, will generate less spending and will have fewer race days than promised," which already has "led some businesses to grouse that they are disappointed with the economic impact" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/28).
