The city of Barcelona will once again host a major sporting event in 2024 with the celebration of the 37th edition of the Copa América de Vela. In the next few days, the agreement will be signed between the parties involved after the organizers and the Emirates Team New Zealand, winner of the previous edition held in Auckland last year, have decided to choose the Catalan capital as the venue for the next. The legendary competition, which was born in 1851, is considered the F-1 of sailing. The candidacy promoted by the Barcelona Global association, through the Barcelona&Partners agency, has had the support of all the institutions -Generalitat, City Council, Diputación and Port de Barcelona- to get the green light from the organizers.
It gives an idea of the scope of this designation that the America’s Cup of Sailing occupies a place at the top of the ladder when talking about the economic impact linked to sporting events. According to estimates by marketing experts and sports consultants, only two events as global as the Olympic Games and the World Cup surpass this competition in this field. Due to investment, job creation, effects on tourism and international projection, thanks to its audience, its economic impact in the host city is estimated at around 1,000 million euros. Hence, the announcement supposes for the Catalan capital an important injection of self-esteem in these times in which so much is debated about its vitality.
The agreement comes after the visit, on March 18, by the general director of Team New Zealand and the company that manages the competition, Grant Dalton. in the Catalan capital visited the port facilities together with Damià Calvet, director of the Port, Jaume Collboni, first deputy mayor, and Aurora Catà, president of Barcelona Global. Dalton also met, separately, with the mayor Ada Colau and the deputy mayor Jordi Martí, and with the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès.
Valencia, venue in 2007 and 2010
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From that visit came the Catalan capital’s commitment to the Copa América, a competition to which Malaga also opted to host. Valencia, where it was already held in two consecutive editions (2007 and 2010), had withdrawn from the bid at the indication of the organizers themselves. Barcelona will have to pay now a canon of 72 million euros until that year 2024 when the competition will be held. The America’s Cup goes beyond the actual regattas, because the participating teams can start sailing in the waters of the Catalan capital next September. They usually go to the venue a year before the start of the competition, on a date in the summer of 2024 yet to be determined.
The agreement coincides in time with that reached in another sporting event such as the Barcelona Pyrenees bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics. In this case, the unanimity in the municipal government is not the same as with the Copa América. While the mayor Ada Colau and Barcelona en Comú have never shown enthusiasm, rather the opposite, with the Olympic project, their partner, the socialist municipal group, has. From the point of view of Barcelona en Comú, an event like the Copa América is much more in keeping with the concept of the blue economy as a strategic sector for the future, based on the idea of making the coastline a springboard for reactivation and transformation. «We are a nautical city and we have proven experience not only in attracting sporting events, but also in generating synergies and making them grow. This is what we also want for the Copa América in Barcelona”. This was the resounding message from the mayor on her Telegram channel after her meeting with Grant Dalton.