The America's Cup (www.americascup.com) is the world's oldest sporting trophy as well as the most famous international sailing race; the competition takes place through a series of match races between two sailing yachts competing against each other: the first is the current cup holder, known as the Defender, and the second is the yacht challenging for the cup, known as the Challenger. 2011 saw the introduction of the America's Cup World Series qualifying races and the Youth America's Cup competition for young sailors, scheduled for next year; all this in view of the 34th America's Cup, to be raced in San Francisco in September 2013.
From 11th to 15th April this year, Naples hosted the key America's Cup World Series, a professional circuit that brings the America's Cup competitions and experience to the most prestigious venues at the international level. The event was followed by the world's main television networks with some 98 hours of live television coverage and an overall audience of 75 million television viewers (excluding the figures for Russia and Germany, which were not available).
The "Parthenope" University of Naples conducted statistical research to determine the number of spectators attending the event, estimated to have been between 485 and 530 thousand. The total purchases made by those who contributed to the expenditure associated with the event (spectators, racing teams, Acea staff and mass-media) amounted to 16.2 million Euros (source: Deloitte Financial Advisory Services S.p.A), while the indirect impact, taking into account the additional expense generated by the America's Cup World Series, is estimated to have been approximately 19.8 million Euros, amounting to a total of around 36 million Euros.
A truly impressive economic impact linked with an event which, in spite of poor weather conditions, focussed the spotlights of the whole world on the city of Naples, and, consequently, on all the premium suppliers of Naples Municipality. We are proud to say that X-Treme Audio was among them, playing a key role side by side with the world's sailing champions, thanks to its partnership with Rosario Mastrogiacomo's Top Agency Service. With the assistance of the ever-helpful, expert engineer Gianni Boccia, the local rental company, whose professional experience in the sector spans more than twenty years, designed the audio for the stage of the prize-giving event at the end of the regattas, using a MISITM line array system made up of 12 XTMISI modules, reinforced by 4 "Big Punch" XTHPS36 subwoofers.
"Wow, what a performance!", commented our engineer Gianni Boccia, who followed the project from its very inception. "The X-Treme systems were not in the least bit affected by the annoying rain lashing down on the event - something we were totally confident about -, so what most impressed us, yet again, was how easy it was to vary the angle of the individual line array modules, and therefore the near field-far field distance, according to the number of spectators attending the event."
As a final note, the rental company director Rosario Mastrogiacomo, added: "The final victory of Luna Rossa in the competition made us feel very proud, but the congratulations and positive impressions of the quality of the MISITM audio system expressed by the organizers themselves - who come from the U.S.A. and are therefore used to high standards in audio systems - literally had us in raptures."
The legendary Jimmy Spithill, skipper of Oracle - holder of the America's Cup - stated: "Naples is the home of sailing, there is no other place in the world where regattas take place so close to the spectators on land."
The mayor Luigi de Magistris welcomed the compliments and added his own satisfaction. "Our citizens - he said - extended an extraordinary welcome and their engagement was enthusiastic. Naples still has the power to amaze".
Rental Company (audio & lights):
T.A.S. - Top Agency Service -
Owner - Rosario Mastrogiacomo
Via D. Riccardi, 312 - Cercola (Naples)
Tel/Fax: +39 081 5550733
E-mail: topagencyservice@libero.it |
