Barcelona to host the America’s Cup in 2024

29/03/2022 - 18:05 h

The city has been chosen by the Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ), the winner of the last event in Auckland (New Zealand), which has the rights to organise the 37th edition. This will be the first time that the oldest international competition in the world includes a Women’s America’s Cup.

Decisive factors in the choice of Barcelona for this event include the way the city is backing the blue economy and the transformation at the Olympic Port, the quality of its facilities, the diversity of spaces for competition, the current infrastructures and those in the pipeline, its experience in organising major sports events and its nautical tradition and education and leisure options. The competition will have an important economic impact for the city, estimates putting the figure at between 900 and 1,000 million dollars.

Sustained economic impact and tech innovation

The return of the America’s Cup goes much further than the competition days. During the two years before the regatta, some 2,500 people from sports teams and the organising body will spend months in the city to prepare for the event and invest in their boats to adapt them to the local conditions.

The competition represents a major boost for the emerging nautical innovation and tech sector, particularly with regard to renewable energies. In parallel to the preparations for the event, the Hidrogen project will be carried out to develop green hydrogen motors for the teams’ support boats, which must be propelled using this sustainable source of energy.

Public-private collaboration

Barcelona’s candidacy to host this major sports event was jointly prepared by the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council, Port de Barcelona and Barcelona & Partners, the investment agency for Barcelona Global.

Hosting the 37th America’s Cup is yet another example of Barcelona becoming consolidated as a venue for leading international events, such as the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the ISE, the main global congress for the audio-visual sector being held in the city for the first time this spring, and the World Capital of Architecture, also in 2024.