TechTV announced Tuesday that it will sponsor Craig McCaw's OneWorld
Challenge, a yachting syndicate that hopes to come up with a team to challenge
Team New Zealand for the America's Cup race in 2003.
Paul Allen's Vulcan Northwest Inc., which owns TechTV, will put up the $10
million for the cable network's sponsorship.
OneWorld is just one of nine challengers hoping to compete in the race off
Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003. The single challenger will be determined after a
series of races between October 2002 and February 2003.
McCaw -- the former CEO of McCaw Cellular Communications Inc., which was sold
to AT&T Corp. in 1994 -- formed OneWorld last year in association with the
Seattle Yacht Club. Ford Motor Co.'s Ford and Lincoln-Mercury divisions are
underwriting sponsors.
The world's foremost sailing event, the America's Cup is increasingly decided
not only by expert sailing, but by technological creativity, and TechTV will
'highlight the technology advances that have had far-reaching effects in the
sport of sailing,' CEO Larry Wangberg said in a prepared
statement.
