Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat, the tourism sector and other economic agents in the city, the world of sports, the big brands... Everyone is doing their best to ensure that the organizers of the 37th edition of the America's Cup sailing, which will be held next year in the waters of the Catalan capital, the participating teams and their families feel better here than in their own homes. The shared objective is that this great sporting event experiences one of its best moments in Barcelona, that the protagonists do not forget their time in this city and that they want to repeat it in future editions. Barcelona is focusing on the 2024 competition but is already looking beyond that date.
The last example so far of this desire to please occurred yesterday afternoon at the Albéniz de Montjuïc palace, the official residence of the kings of Spain on their visits to Barcelona. Mayor Jaume Collboni, the first person interested in making the 2024 America's Cup a resounding success, received all the participating teams, who were treated as illustrious guests. The first mayor was not alone in this diplomatic mission. He was accompanied by the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, and the president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), Víctor Francos.
One of the things that most worries the municipal and Catalan authorities focused on the America's Cup is the campaign to publicize this event among the local population, popularize it so that a great success with the public will shine within a year the great event on the Barcelona sports calendar. In this sense, the next edition of the Boat Show, which will take place in Port Vell from Wednesday, October 11, until Sunday, the 15th, is planned as the great launching platform for the America's Cup in Barcelona. The America's Cup Experience is also beginning to play that role, the competition's dissemination center opened at the end of August in the facilities of the old IMAX Port Vell cinema, which had its official opening last Thursday.
The CEO of the America's Cup, Grant Dalton, and the general director of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Iberia, Francesc Cosano, signed an agreement yesterday at the company's facilities in Martorell that makes the soft drink brand a global sponsor of the event of 2024.
The possibilities of Barcelona repeating as host of the Copa del América in the future depend on several factors. The first, that the New Zealand team, current holder of the Hundred Guineas Jug, defends the title against fierce competition from the Americans, British, Italians, French and Swiss, although a victory for the latter would open a new opportunity for Barcelona.
The options for the Catalan capital also depend on the sporting, public and media successes and the economic viability of the competition, its positive impact on the city and on the accounts of the main parties involved in this adventure. In any case, Barcelona will not lack competitors, even nearby. This is the case of Valencia, which longs to host the Copa del América for the third time after the experiences of 2007 and 2010 and which has already begun to pull strings. The general director of the America's Cup Event Barcelona, the New Zealander Grant Dalton, recognized this a few days ago during a presentation in Madrid.
