Bob Dylan said it about 40 years ago … "The Times They Are A'changin'."
Don't believe it? Take a look at the entry list for the 2007 America's Cup race.
Syndicates (they're called "syndicates" instead of "teams") from all five continents, 11 countries, including three never represented before, have filed entries.
But only one syndicate is American. On top of that, part of the "American" group's sponsorship comes from a German car company and most of the sailing crew is from New Zealand.
Groups based in China, Germany and South Africa got their entries in before last weekend's deadline.
Two other American groups tried to raise the money necessary to file viable entries by last Friday, but ran out of time.
According to ESPN, Sausalito Challenge, based in Northern California, came close, trying to negotiate a sponsorship deal with an Italian credit card company up until Friday morning.
A household word in yacht racing, Dennis Conner, gave up the fight the day before because he couldn't raise the cubic amounts of money needed.
Estimates are that it will take $50 million to $60 million to get a boat to the starting line in 2007. The ESPN story says that the richer groups could ante up at least three times that much.
Not that they didn't try. Sausalito Challenge first tried to auction off sponsorship on eBay. That didn't work.
Then they offered a spot on the boat for $13 million. That works for spaceship rides but not for a yacht race.
John Sweeney is/was the sailing manager for Sausalito Challenge. He told ESPN that several factors made fund-raising hard. He mentioned the high cost of competing in European waters and the fact that the entry deadline is two years before the event.
But he also said that some potential sponsors were scared away by the financial juggernaut that will represent the U.S., BMW Oracle.
BMW Oracle is headed by Larry Ellison, a Silicon Valley billionaire and … well you can guess which German car company.
The America's Cup isn't held on a regular schedule. It takes place whenever the current Cup holder (Hey, I've got one of those in my car!) decides to take on challengers.
The last time they raced was in 2002-03, off Auckland, New Zealand. Ellison's Team Oracle lost in the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup to Alinghi. Alinghi is backed by Swiss biotechnology billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli and Europe's biggest bank, UBS AG. They are expected to spend 100 million Euros ($130,000).
All the challengers race each other for the Louis Vuitton Cup. The winner then takes on the defending champion.
The Swiss boat easily handled the defending New Zealanders, who suffered some embarrassing equipment breakdowns and looked totally unprepared for the competition.
Since the defenders are based in Switzerland, it would be hard to hold the 2007 Challenge off the Swiss coast. Instead it will take place off Valencia, Spain.
An article in the New Zealand Herald says that China's effort is being run by the former French yachting syndicate, Le Delfi and China Equity Investment Corporation. It will have co-directors, Xavier de Lesquen, who headed Le Delfi in 2000 and 2003, and Chao Yong. They will be based in Oingdao, where the sailing events will be held during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
I see a trend here. Do they teach Chinese in high school yet?