BarcelonaBarcelona will host the prestigious America’s Cup sailing in 2024. The 37th edition of the sport’s oldest tournament, born in the 19th century, will reach Catalan waters in 2024 thanks to an agreement with Team New Zealand. The New Zealanders, current champions of the competition, have decided to rely on the candidacy of the Barcelona Global group, which has promoted a holding of companies created to obtain private funding for the event, in collaboration with Barcelona City Council. the Diputació de Barcelona, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Port of Barcelona.
This was confirmed by the Minister of Business and Labor, Roger Torrent, who in an interview with Catalunya Ràdio said that the event will have a “millionaire impact” of about 1 billion euros in the city, according to the Government and will enhance the international image of Barcelona and Catalonia. “It is a great commitment to the city and the country and it is worth betting on it,” said Torrent, who stressed that this success is the result of public-private collaboration, as it has been very involved in the preparation of the candidacy. directly Barcelona Global, a private association made up of 220 of the main companies, research centers, entrepreneurs, business schools, universities and cultural institutions in the city.
Barcelona has established itself in the other three candidate cities, drawing on its experience in organizing major sporting events of all kinds, from the 1992 Olympic Games to the Mobile World Congress, as well as being a tourist destination for world first order. Jaume Collboni, Deputy Mayor of the city, explained how “this weekend our candidacy has been valued, it is an event that will be key to recovering the city’s relationship with water sports, to bring back sporting events of The impact of this sport is similar to the Olympic Games, we are once again at the forefront of world sport, and when there is collaboration between institutions and the private sector, anything is possible. group of about 20 businessmen, in addition to the sports clubs or the Port of Barcelona, who have made it possible “.
Grant Dalton, the head of the New Zealand team, went to Catalonia last week to visit the facilities of the port’s new cruise terminal, one of the Cup’s headquarters, and to hear first-hand how both the Government of the Generalitat and Barcelona City Council have overcome their different points of view to row in the same direction. According to some studies, this event is the third most watched in the world after the World Cup and the Olympics. In a first phase, different boats compete to have the right to see the faces of the current champion, in this case Team New Zealand, in the final.
Dalton was accompanied in Barcelona by Stewart Hosford, number two in the British group Origin Sports, chaired by Sir Keith Mills. The organization analyzed other candidates, including Malaga, Cork and Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia. Auckland, New Zealand, was supposed to be the headquarters in 2024, but changes in the security and budget plans caused by the pandemic have led Team New Zealand to negotiate a headquarters abroad, a formula that has already been seen. in the past, usually with great economic success, such as the event organized in Bermuda in 2017. However, when it took place in Valencia in 2007 and 2010 the mismanagement ended in the courts, although a study published by The Valencian Institute of Economic Research estimated the impact of the 2007 edition at 2,724 million euros, generating or helping to maintain 73,859 jobs.
The Cup should be played between May 1 and October 31, 2024. And Barcelona would receive an economic impact of 1 billion euros, according to the organizers, which required an investment of more than 75 million euros at the chosen headquarters. Malaga offered a lot more money, but in the end the chosen venue was Barcelona. At the moment there are five boats that aspire to be finalists in a tournament that, coinciding with the Catalan event, will open the Women’s America’s Cup.
The competition, where different sailing boats representing clubs from around the world compete with each other to face the grand final at the club defending the crown, was won in 2021 by the boat Te Rehutai, of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. This club revalidated the title in Auckland Bay by defeating Red Moon Italian. The New Zealanders, great dominators in the last years of the Cup after decades in which the Americans used to rule, have always organized the Cup in their own waters, but this time they have decided to open the door to receive proposals from other cities to organize one of the most money-moving competitions in the world. The tournament to decide the finalist will be between the boats Ineos Britannia; l’American Magic; the Red Moon Italian, the Stars & Stripes i l’Alinghi Red Bull Racing. These teams can start training almost a year before the Cup, which is why the economic impact goes far beyond the date of the final competition. Some may have other de facto ports, such as Valencia.
