(FORTUNE Magazine) – Will the America's Cup replace the Super Bowl in the hearts of U.S. sports fans? Not likely. But the quest to recapture yachting's most coveted prize has found a mother lode: U.S. corporate sponsorship. Six American syndicates are vying with eight foreign teams for the right to challenge Australia next January. They will be sailing on a flood of cash from Allied-Signal, Amway, Ford, and hundreds of companies doing their patriotic bit to bring the garish old cup back to the U.S., where it remained undisturbed from 1851 to 1983, when the Aussies breezed off with it. The yachtsmen can use the money. Trials to determine the ultimate challenger begin this October off Perth, Australia, and the syndicates -- boats, sailors, and technicians -- must get there. Moreover, they must arrive with the latest in sailing sophistication. That means several boats per syndicate, each turned out to the highest of nautical high tech. Costs can run to $15 million, almost four times the 1983 level. ''Technology has always been the deciding factor in America's Cup races,'' says Andrea Bertrand, spokeswoman for the America II syndicate, one of the six U.S. contenders. ''But in 1983 we got caught with our proverbial pants down. No one wants to leave any technological stone unturned this time.'' The increased costs meant increased reliance on corporate donors. Surprisingly, loss of the cup has made fund raising easier. Like the Statue of Liberty and Hands Across America, the America's Cup offers a chance for some cause-related marketing (see Selling). Dennis Conner, losing skipper in the 1983 cup races and head of the Stars and Stripes syndicate, says he has raised more than $10 million from 238 companies. Anheuser-Busch, for example, has made a ''multimillion-dollar commitment'' to Conner's syndicate. And the company intends to profit from its generosity. It plans a series of commercials to raise funds for the cup campaign -- and firmly link its blue-collar Budweiser to the blue-blood sport of 12-meter racing. Says Michael Roarty, executive vice president of beer marketing: ''We think the working man wants to get the cup back to America.'' So do all those executives from Newport, Rhode Island, to Newport Beach, California.