The Venue

"Your future dream is a shopping scheme." - The Sex Pistols.

Andy Green (www.britishracinggreen.co.uk) is one of the better sailors from the UK and occasional contributor here at SA. Here Andy weighs in on where thew next AC might be held. Enjoy.

The debate about the home for the next America's Cup has caused much consternation. It is after all the biggest event that sailing has. (The Olympics is owned by the IOC) It is a very interesting indicator as to the state of our sport and the image it portrays. It is hard to say that at this level this is not a rich man's game, but the interest and economic benefit is becoming increasingly valuable to European Cities desperate to set themselves apart from 40 other big cities within a 2-hour plane ride. Liverpool in England just spent £1.8million to ensure the Clipper Round the World Race, a participant paid race that coincides with their nomination as European City of Culture, starts there, that's a lot of money for a sailing race.

So the venue has come down to four, their pro's and con's are too numerous for here but with only a couple of days to go….Naples, probably not going to happen, latest quotes from Naples "Anti-globalisation activists in Naples announced that they were going to carry out a "very hard boycott movement" to ruin the candidature of Naples to host the next America's Cup." This just can't be a good thing! The same goes for Cascais/ Lisbon who had fisherman trouble but offset this with a great location and sailing conditions, their own mayor recently stating their chances as "no more than 25%. Marseille always had a good shot, they lost The Race which is a big deal for them but a great and committed city, very keen, very French, worries about security, wind and space have held them back.

However, all the current talk is of Valencia, its certainly most people's choice to get the nod, however the most important point is that NOBODY actually knows until there is ink on the contract, the goalposts are continually changing, cities can see how the process is going and where they are lacking, as a result they are throwing top level persuasion, planning and politics but most importantly lots of money. Word is that this is causing some very exciting brinkmanship in the bidding process.

The venue may also be dependent on the title sponsor for the challenger series, Louis Vuitton have owned this for years, when the chips are down are they really likely to sell what they have nurtured for years just when it gets to their back yard and they can use it properly? Valencia is the popular choice, but don't discount Marseille if LV put up the cash. Rumour was they paid $5-10 million in NZ, upping this amount could easily overcome other issues and ensure its coffee and croissants not samba and siestas…. For those that are interested, its an interesting wait….

L8ers
Andy