37th America's Cup will be hosted by Barcelona in September & October 2024
Caroline Blatter 30 Mar 2022 Barcelona / Spain / Mediterranean / Regattas & Cruising Rallies / About/General Information
Emirates Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron are pleased to announce Barcelona, as the Host Venue for the 37th America’s Cup.
With a wonderful mixture of history and modernity, Barcelona is one of the most iconic and attractive cities in the world and will become the first venue in the world to host both an Olympic Games and an America’s Cup event.
America’s Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton is delighted to announce Barcelona as the Host Venue after a long and competitive venue selection process. “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 AC75’s racing within a few hundred metres of the Barcelona beach, waterfront, and race village fan engagement zones it will be nothing less than spectacular.”
Port of Barcelona - Image by Ramon Vilalta
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 9-15 knots during the September and October race window, made the city completely fit for purpose.
Barcelona’s bid saw an unprecedented alliance across public and private entities working together to attract the America’s Cup to Barcelona which included 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.
Columbus Monument & Reial Club Nàutic Barcelona
The president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Pere Aragonés, explained that the celebration of the America's Cup in Barcelona is excellent news for the city and for the whole country.
"It is an historic sporting event, which has a great projection worldwide at an international level, economically and for tourism”. The America’s Cup is not just an isolated sporting activity and offers significantly more than that to the Host Venue. It is an event that it will generate a return across many platforms over years and will leave a very important legacy for Catalonia.
"I am very satisfied because for the first time, the America’s Cup will also include a specific Women’s America’s Cup regatta in Barcelona.” enthused Pere Aragonés
(L to R) Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona. Pere Aragonés, President of the Government of Catalonia.
Grant Dalton
The Mayor of the city of Barcelona, Ada Colau, celebrated the election of Barcelona as the venue for the 37th edition of the America's Cup, the oldest sailing race, "It is great news for Barcelona! This should serve to promote the city to the world after the pandemic, to benefit Barcelona’s tradition of this sport in a city by the sea and in addition, to boost the emerging sector of innovation and technology, linked to nautical activities. I want to thank all the public and private institutions for their support and complicity in this project”.
Damiá Calvet, the president of the Port of Barcelona, an integral part of the successful Barcelona bid, said "We have made Port Vell available to the city and the country to be able to celebrate an America's Cup that projects Barcelona to the world and that has innovation and sustainability as its flagship. We will make the most of the infrastructures that we already have, we will boost the economy and employment and finally, we will leave an enduring legacy".
(L to R) Roger Torrent, Minister of Business & Labour of the Government of Catalonia. Grant Dalton. Damiá Calvet, President of the Port of Barcelona
Integral to the organisation of the 37th America’s Cup is the Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia and the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd who have played an important part in setting the foundations of the next edition of the oldest trophy in international sport.
INEOS Britannia Team Principal Sir Ben Ainslie said, “We are delighted the iconic city of Barcelona has been chosen to host the 37th America’s Cup. The historic weather data for Barcelona shows what a fantastic sailing venue it will be. The marina development and race area in Barcelona will offer excellent shore side facilities for the competing teams, alongside a great event village for fans of sports oldest international trophy to enjoy this iconic sporting event.
(L to R) Eduardo Torres, President of Tourisme de Barcelona. Angel Garcia, CEO, Barcelona & Partners.
Grant Dalton. Roger Torrent, Minister of Business & Labour of the Government of Catalonia. Pere Aragonés, President of the Government of Catalonia. Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona. Jaume Collboni, First Deputy Mayor of Barcelona City Council. Daniel Puig, Consortium of Private Investors. Damiá Calvet, President of the Port of Barcelona. Aurora Cata, President, Barcelona Global. Matteo de Nora, Team Principal.
Further details on the venue and 37th America’s Cup will be announced in due course.
"Obviously all of this news is announced in the shadow of the unfathomable war in the Ukraine we are witnessing right now, which clearly puts everything in perspective for us" said Dalton. "We sincerely hope there is a rapid improvement in the situation, and we would like to send our strong message of support to the people in Ukraine during this period. We look forward to working in partnership with our Host Venue of Barcelona and announcing further details in due course.”
For the full article and more news follow this 37th America's Cup link
