$20,000,000 bid

But reserve not met at Sausilito Challenge's America's Cup auction on EBay

In less than 60 days, the Sausalito Challenge for the 2007 America’s Cup has gone from obscurity to CNN Headline news.

The final auction on eBay for the exclusive sponsorship package has ended with a final bid of $20million. The reserve price of $26million was not met during the auction, precluding a sale, but the auction format let millions of people know about the team and the revised America’s Cup format. More than 17,000 page visits from around the world prove that there is a broad range of interest in America’s Cup competition and tremendous potential for a sponsor’s ROI.

At this stage, the Sausalito Challenge will engage in private discussions with companies who have come forward as a result of the exposure from the sponsorship auction.

“It’s a three year marriage between a team and sponsor” states co-founder Tina Kleinjan. We want to make sure the company we choose is in it for the long haul. We look forward to speaking to the bidders and any new companies who haven’t contacted us yet. Our goal is to find that special company who shares our passion for the cup and smart marketing.

“Using the eBay format has given us front row seats to CEO’s worldwide” states co-founder John Sweeney. It’s a sample of what we can create for our sponsor and proof that we lead the way in innovative ideas in our sport on and off the water. We want to give the America’s Cup some personality and let everyone see what our team is doing around the clock. At the end of the day we expect to win the America’s Cup and give our sole sponsor the best possible ROI. This, after all, will be the company that sponsors the return of the America’s Cup to the US and San Francisco Bay.

- The final bid count was ten bids by three companies
- The companies were from Japan, France and Switzerland
- The two auctions on eBay attracted more than 32,000 unique viewers (unique means if you look at the page one time and then go back you are only counted as one viewer)
- The Sausalito Challenge was seen by more than 10 Million viewers last night on CNN and Tech TV
- The Sausalito Challenge web site topped a million visitors in less than 60 days
- This was eBay's highest dollar auction to date (previous record was 8 million)
- This was eBay's highest bidder auction as well ($20million high bidder)
- This was the first known major sports sponsorship auction conducted online
- Average America's Cup budget for 2007 $65million Euros
- Number of America's Cup teams offering exclusive sponsorship rights - 1 out of 18