I guess a bigger question would be, how has SAILING in general benefited from being an Olympic sport? (Aside from getting sailing some occasional promo in the media.)
In the USA, the non-sailing public immediately thinks of America's Cup as "their" connection to sailing, along the lines of the World Series or Superbowl. A high percentage would never know it was an Olympic sport, regardless of number of hulls.
Look at the home countries of this posts replies. I think US sailors can only wish the sport was as popular here as it is in AU and EU.
