Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat, the tourism sector and other economic agents of the city, the world of sport, the big brands... All are doing their best so that the organizers of the 37th edition of the Cup of the America of Sailing, which will be held next year in the waters of the Catalan capital, the participating teams and their families feel better here than at home. The shared goal is for this great sporting event to experience one of its best moments in Barcelona, for the protagonists not to forget their time in this city and for them to want to repeat it in future editions. Barcelona is aiming for the 2024 competition but is already looking beyond that date.
The latest display so far of this desire to please was yesterday afternoon at the Albéniz de Montjuïc palace, the official residence of the kings of Spain during their visits to Barcelona. Mayor Jaume Collboni, the first interested in the fact that the America's Cup 2024 is a resounding success, received all the participating teams, who were treated as illustrious guests. The batlle was not alone in this diplomatic mission. He was accompanied by the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, and the president of the Superior Sports Council (CSD), Víctor Francos.
One of the things that most concerns the municipal and Catalan authorities overturned in the America's Cup is the campaign to make this event known among the local population, to popularize it so that a great success with the public will shine from here a year the big event in Barcelona's sports calendar. In this sense, the next edition of the Saló Nàutic, which will take place in Port Vell from Wednesday, October 11, and until Sunday, the 15th, is considered to be the great launching pad for the America's Cup in Barcelona . The America's Cup Experience, the competition's outreach center that opened at the end of August in the facilities of the old IMAX Port Vell cinema, is also starting to play this role and which saw its official inauguration on Thursday.
The CEO of the America's Cup, Grant Dalton, and the CEO of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Iberia, Francesc Cosano, signed yesterday at the company's facilities in Martorell an agreement that turns the soft drinks brand as global sponsor of the 2024 event.
The chances of Barcelona repeating as host of the America's Cup in the future depend on several factors. The first, for the New Zealand team, current holders of the Hundred Guineas Cup, to revalidate 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 Catalan capital's choices 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 principals involved in this adventure. In any case, Barcelona will not lack competitors, even local competitors. This is the case of Valencia, which longs to host the Copa de l'América for the third time after the experiences of 2007 and 2010 and which has already begun to move threads. The general director of the America's Cup Event Barcelona, the New Zealander Grant Dalton, acknowledged this a few days ago during a presentation in Madrid.
