©SailingShots by María Muiña / AC37
America’s Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton announced today that Barcelona will be the Host Venue for the 37th America’s Cup.
“Barcelona really is one of the most recognized cities in the world so to have the ability to host the most recognized sailing event in the world is hugely exciting,” Dalton said in today’s announcement, which followed reports from Barcelona media outlets. “As Defender of the America’s Cup, we have always felt the responsibility to grow the event, the audience, and the sport of sailing on a global scale and certainly having the event hosted in a significant city such as Barcelona will allow us to propel the growth trajectory on the global sporting stage.
“When thinking ahead to the 37th America’s Cup and the AC75s racing within a few hundred meters of the Barcelona beach, waterfront, and race village fan engagement.”
The announcement goes on to say that “Barcelona is a leading city in terms of sustainability and social impact with ambitions to become Europe’s digital and tech capital, so the alignment with the America’s Cup is clear. Its existing world class facilities for racing, team bases, technical infrastructure, superyachts, and areas for the America’s Cup event village to host fans, hospitality, and media as well as an average wind range of 9 to 15 knots during the September and October race window, made the city completely fit for purpose.”
While this may certainly be true, the new venue is far more accessible to other teams and more economical for the flow of people and goods associated with the event.
According to the statement, Barcelona’s bid has the support of public and private funding from: “the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council, City Hall of Barcelona, Port of Barcelona, Barcelona Global’s investment agency and Barcelona & Partners, a non-profit initiative composed of more than 200 of the city’s leading institutions aiming to make Barcelona one of the world’s best cities for talent and economic activity.”