The Americas Cup was originally intended to be a contest between nations, now it is a contest between lawyers. At least we still have the Olympics for a little nation versus nation action. But I suppose we should eliminate the nationality rules there too. After all how is a small nation like Jamaica supposed to be competitive in any of the winter events since they probably have never seen snow. Seems that it would only be fair that they are allowed to hire some folks from another country so that they have a chance. Of course you can't be PRO in compete in the Olympics either. Now there's a concept.
Yes it is true their are a lot of great, and possibly the greatest sailors in New Zealand and Australia, but I don't think that means the US, or anyone else for that matter couldn't be competitive if a nationality clause existed. I often felt that reason the US couldn't bring the cup back was not because of the caliber of the sailors, but instead because four or five US teams would split up the talent. How often has New Zealand or Australia had more than one team challenging for the cup? There were US teams challenging for the cup even when a US team was defending. But that is another topic. Okay, flame suit activated, fire away.