Smooth sailing. There are still months left for the sporting event that will mark the course in Barcelona this year, but the America's Cup of sailing has just successfully crossed its first goal.
Because it can already be said that, from the outset, it will not be a loss-making event. It will have no extra cost either for the taxpayers or for the thirty businessmen from Barcelona (and yes, also some from Madrid) who had agreed to guarantee with almost 30 million of their assets in the event that the sponsors did not contribute enough money.
When it came to formalizing Barcelona's candidacy, several private businessmen put their guarantee on the table. Known surnames such as Puig, Cuatrecasas, Rodés, as well as others linked by the passion for nautical. Well, this money has arrived and the expected mark has been exceeded, after the last major companies (CaixaBank, Cupra, Estrella Damm, Puig, Coca Cola, Louis Vuitton, to name a few) announced their advertising involvement with the event.
As for public money, after this private support, the nearly 50 million euros already budgeted (Ministry of Sports, Provincial Council, City Council, Turisme de Barcelona) will not have to be increased, meaning that the approximate 80 million that had to be mobilized for that the America's Cup loosened its moorings are already in good shape.
It seems obvious, but if it is compared to the last edition of this competition that Spain hosted, Valencia 2007 – net of the urban benefits that were generated in the city such as the revitalization of the port – the budget was completely out of date. The debt dragged on for fourteen years and at the end of 2021 public administrations still assumed twenty million euros that still remained to be paid.
In short, the oldest competition in sport has this time achieved not only environmental sustainability, but also financial sustainability.
As for public administration, the accounts should also be balanced for a simple reason: if it is expected that the America's Cup of sailing in Barcelona can attract – at least – some two million visitors in just two months (after the summer ), with the forecasts of daily expenses the State will be able to easily recover (and even quadruple) what was invested in tax revenues in the form of VAT. For the City Council, the cost to its coffers is similar to that of Mobile, but the return may be higher as the demonstration extends for more days.
And here we move on to the next topic: once the production accounts are done and all that remains is for the famous Hundred Guineas trophy to distribute its luck to the sailors, one wonders what the economic impact that this event will have for the city. We enter the slippery terrain of forecasts and immaterial legacies, which are always difficult to calculate.
An official estimate is already circulating, made by the UPF, which estimates that the Copa del America de Vela as a whole will have an impact of more than 1.2 billion euros. The data from the study was provided by the Generalitat. It would represent 0.5% of the community's GDP. It would also be the highest figure ever achieved by the Cup in terms of impact.
Is it realistic?
To answer, it is best to compare with what happened with previous editions. But a spoiler can now be made: it is plausible. The fundamental economic pillar of this event is the audience, especially the television audience. Nearly 1.2 billion people around the world, led by the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy, will tune in to watch the competition, thanks to the colossal investment of 25 million euros in a very agile broadcast, free and accessible to an audience generalist
The previous edition in Auckland (2021) does not serve as a reference: it was a post-covid world and the time zone was unfavorable. If we go back, in the 2017 edition in the Bermuda Islands, an analysis by the consulting firm PWC valued the impact at only 330 million euros. But the television audience was barely 450 million people (in addition, there were few participating teams and few visitors from abroad), a figure that Barcelona aims to more than double. If this is achieved, then the impact can more than double and come close to the forecasts.
Let's now compare with Mobile: the pre-pandemic edition of 2019 generated almost 500 million in just one week. If we multiply this figure by two (the fortnight of October when the Copa America final takes place) we reach close to 1,000 million, so the official estimate, in one sense or the other, in the end more or less fits. .
But can't there also be some negative economic externality? Yes. A report prepared by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute on the occasion of the Copa del America celebration in San Francisco (2013) detected some harmful effects: increase in traffic and congestion on the streets, increase in hotel rates, longer lines at some restaurants (near the event), increased airfares to and from San Francisco, possible competition in the labor market (some of the jobs created were at the expense of other businesses in the city).
However, the study concluded: “There is no clear evidence that the increase in visitors to San Francisco caused a substantial negative effect.”
In the case of Barcelona, there could be some urban and real estate tension in the Port Vell and Barceloneta area, where the nautical bases are located. But we must put the data in context: more than 102,000 people live in the Ciutat Vella district. Whether the 2,500 members of the Copa del America teams who have been living in the city for months will alone alter the rental prices of the entire neighborhood remains to be seen and at the moment there is no tangible data that this will happen.
As for hospitality services, it is predicted that more than 3,500 visitors will visit during the days of the competition. However, we are talking about a period that does not exceed two months and in the low tourist season, after summer, so queues, congestion or increased rates are destined to be momentary.
On the other hand, it is more likely that specific alterations will occur in the labor market, because the organization of the America's Cup is a huge vacuum cleaner of human and technical resources (workshops, boats, equipment, materials) of which the Barcelona sector could at some point. moment suffer shortage.
“The local nautical industry will have a hard time finding an upholsterer, a mechanic. There may even be fewer industrial spaces available. They also pay a lot, because they have a high budget to spend in a limited period of time. You can't compete with the Copa America,” complained a businessman in the sector.
In any case, to fully assess the effect of the Copa del America on Barcelona's economic fabric, we must remember the original commitment of the organizers: to take advantage of the event's leverage not so much to promote an urban transformation (which, unlike Valencia, , will be minimal since most of the infrastructures are removable) but to develop the blue economy sector.
Beyond the vagueness behind this concept, there are specific initiatives, under the umbrella of the Barcelona Capital Náutica Foundation, which brings together several initiatives and that could give rise to a multiplier effect of the sporting event on a business scale. For example, the Catalan shipyard De Antonio Yachts will produce a model of a 100% electric boat, which will assist the new autonomous electric beacons throughout the competition. Furthermore, as the teams are required to have a hydrogen-powered boat that accompanies them during their travels (the so-called escort boat), the idea is that after this demonstration this fuel and its use in sailing to reduce emissions will begin to become popular. One can cite the case of the Port Olímpic venues, where discotheques for tourists once reigned, which will now have the possibility of specializing their offer in the most advanced nautical sector and technology, such as the one that will sail in the Copa del America.
Other economic impacts are difficult to measure. In this sense, we must not forget that the regattas are also an opportunity to attract businessmen through hospitality and create a breeding ground for business initiatives or for some to decide to settle or invest in the city (so they hope, in low voice, some high-end real estate agencies in Barcelona).
Not to mention the new UPC university courses related to nautical, which will be grouped in a new study center near the Vela hotel. Without forgetting the City Council's initiatives to promote water sports also from childhood and school age, which will breathe new life into the public and sports spaces on the coast near Barcelona (the so-called Pavelló Blau) without environmental impact.
The greatest financial risk, reasoned sources involved in the negotiation, is that, paradoxically, the people of Barcelona are the ones who do not make the event their own or who experience it as a foreign body to their lives, when in addition no team competes in the AC75 main league. Spanish.
In the end you have to ask yourself if money is the most important thing. Because as the legendary American skipper Bus Mosbacher, who twice won the trophy in the sixties, once said, “what began more than a century ago as a joke between gentlemen has become a matter of national pride, purpose and prestige. Millions of dollars have been invested in this competition, with no guarantee of any return, except the certainty that there will be winners and losers.”
