After a long time talking about this moment, the America's Cup debuts this Thursday in Barcelona waters. It will be with the third and final preliminary regatta, after those held in Vilanova i la Geltrú and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). One of the most anticipated scenes will be starred by the best teams from the last edition: the winner, the New Zealander Emirates Team New Zealand, and the one that came closest to snatching the historic trophy, the Italian Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Four days in which the six participating teams will face each other, completing the list with the French Orient Express Racing Team, the Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing, the British Ineos Britannia and the American New York Yacht Club American Magic. It remains to be seen how Alinghi will face it after breaking the mast for the second time.
With a regatta course that will be located between the W Hotel and the Port Olímpic, Barcelona's beaches, especially those of Sant Miquel, Barceloneta and Somorrostro, are positioned as the best grandstands from which to follow the 37th edition of a competition that will last until the end of October. Viewpoints such as the new Rompeolas promenade and the renovated Port Olímpic will also offer good views, without forgetting that screens have been set up at Moll de la Fusta, Plaça del Mar and Bogatell beach, with foodtrucks included. The main event will come with the final, between the New Zealanders, known as kiwis, and the team that wins the different phases of the competition. With a pre-inauguration gala on the beach, it will be held from October 12, with a maximum of 13 races and the first team to score seven points taking the prize. We must also focus on the women's competition, the first to be organized and which will give a boost to a sport with much to do for equality.
A regatta that will last for two months and that will have to see if it is capable of seducing the people of Barcelona, for whom it remains largely unknown. It was at the beginning of March 2022 when the America's Cup in Barcelona began to be heard of. The city had decided to join the race to host the next edition of this competition, which was said to be the oldest in the world and one of the sporting events that generates the most economic and media impact, only behind the Olympic Games and the football World Cups.
Little was known about this regatta, beyond local sailing fans, seen as too exclusive for the vast majority. The competition had previously stopped in Spain, specifically in Valencia in 2007 and 2010, leaving a millionaire debt that drew much criticism. That is why the Barcelona authorities quickly said that the same would not happen here, that no pharaonic works would have to be done nor would there be a large mobilization of public resources. In fact, the Catalan capital had already wanted to attract it in the first edition that had ended up going to Valencia.
Barcelona was not alone in this race to convince Emirates Team New Zealand, the winner of the edition held in Auckland in 2021 and responsible for organizing the next one. Málaga also wanted it, as well as Cork (Ireland) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), while Valencia had ended up pulling out, still very much remembering the bad memory of years ago.
After a few weeks, with visits from the Kiwis to the city's port, the screening came to an end. The city had ended up prevailing over the others, according to the CEO of the New Zealand team, Grant Dalton, because of its way of being. "It was the emotion we felt as an organization that made us automatically make the decision," he explained in his first public appearance in Barcelona. The unanimous support of the Port of Barcelona, the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat and the Government served to raise a budget of 70 million euros, with the endorsement of 25 million euros contributed by private agents, among whom Barcelona Global and businessman Dani Puig had a prominent role. According to a study carried out by the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), it is estimated that the 37th edition of the regatta will have an economic impact of a total of 1,239 million euros in the city, approximately 0.5% of Catalonia's GDP, and the creation of some 19,000 jobs.
It was the first sign that something was changing in Barcelona, with a consensus among the different administrations that had not been seen for years, with the Port of Barcelona of Damià Calvet, the City Council of Ada Colau, in coalition with the future mayor Jaume Collboni, the Generalitat of Pere Aragonès and the Government of Pedro Sánchez all working as one. The city wanted to recall its Olympic spirit, an easy catchphrase that has been repeated over the years and that, probably, has detracted more than added, given the more limited dimensions of the America's Cup and the recent memory of the excitement of the Paris games.
More than two years of preparations
Following Barcelona's designation at the end of March two years ago, preparations got underway. First, the teams had to be placed, distributing their bases throughout Port Vell, with the Swiss being the first to settle in the Catalan capital to train as they had no sea. It took longer for the flying boats of the six teams to arrive, which gradually reached the city, by land, sea and air, with the New Zealanders being the last to bring it, this very June. Since then, the six teams have been measuring themselves against each other in the water, training for months. Also, volunteers had to be sought to make the event possible, with the largest team ever mobilized in the history of the regatta, made up of 2,300 members. An America's Cup dissemination center was even opened in the old Imax, saving it from demolition and torpedoing the Liceu's plans to open a second headquarters on those grounds, an idea that today the port discards and moves a few meters below the old cinemas.
Likewise, the city took advantage of the event to accelerate planned investments in the seafront, as the Port of Barcelona has done by opening more previously port areas to the public and the Barcelona City Council by giving a definitive boost to the reform of the Port Olímpic. Often working against the clock, they have arrived on time, ensuring that Barcelona residents enjoy, at least, new spaces that would have taken longer to inaugurate. The most paradigmatic case is the launch of a nautical bus, a project that had been in the port's plans for years but had never been brought to fruition.
One month before the start of the competition, the city council already certified that the city was ready to receive its fans after more than two intense years of coordination with the organizers, not always easy. The only thing missing was to fully recover the historic headquarters of the Port of Portal de la Pau, with the main facade clean of scaffolding but its interior empty, and the Gastronomic Balcony of the Gregal dock, the new restaurant area of the Port Olímpic that is finalizing works for the imminent opening of nine restaurants.