Precisely which teams will be joining the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand and the Challenger of Record Athena Racing is not clear, although we shouldn’t have to wait too long as the deadline for challenges to be submitted is on October 31 – just over two weeks from today.
Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have made it clear that they will be mounting a challenge and the French syndicate K-Challenge (formerly Orient Express Racing Team in AC37) are believed to be planning to do the same.
Meanwhile there have been persistent rumours of a second Italian challenge coming from Vincenzo Onorato’s Mascalzone Latino outfit who last challenged for the America’s Cup in the International America’s Cup Class era back in 2007.
At this stage there has been no word from the other two AC38 syndicates, American Magic and the Swiss Alinghi, although I have been reliably informed that both teams were involved in the process of creating the America’s Cup Partnership – so we can but hope that they are also planning to join the party.
Under the terms of the new agreement the management of the America’s Cup for the current edition – AC38, scheduled for 2027 in Naples, Italy – and onwards will be the responsibility of a governance board made up of representatives of all the teams.
An independent management team is to be put in place to drive commercial growth, long-term investment into both the event and the teams, and continued technical development.
The most tangible benefit of the ACP is to leverage the new two year cycle for staging the America’s Cup to secure long-term deals with venues, commercial partners, TV broadcast partners, and beyond.
“This allows the teams to grow in value,” said Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton. “They have got a value because they are involved in the future of the Cup. We can do long-term deals. To date we have not been able to do a multi-year deal with a venue. Like we did a deal with Naples but we couldn’t do a deal for 2029 because we didn’t know who was going to win.
“Now, no matter who wins, the board of the teams can vote now on where they would like to take the Cup next time. This gives continuity, it allows TV deals to be done, for sponsor deals to be done, into the future.
“Effectively now we have supercharged the America’s Cup.”
Sir Ben Ainslie, CEO of Athena Racing, said the deal had been the culmination of “an incredible effort and collaboration” between all the parties.
“Huge credit to Grant Dalton and Emirates Team New Zealand for coming to the fore as the America’s Cup Defender and so many other teams and stakeholders and professional advisors have worked tirelessly now for pretty much 12 months to create what is now an historic America’s Cup partnership.”
Looking ahead to the 38th America’s Cup, Ainslie said it had all the hallmarks of being a “spectacular” event, particularly due to the passion of the Italian sailing fans and the fact that Naples is “a great sailing venue”.
“We know the Italian fans are passionate about their sailing and in particular the America’s Cup,” he said. “They will no doubt be getting fully behind the home team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
“With this new America’s Cup Partnership really being able to pull in long term commercial deals, an iconic venue like Naples is a great place to start this new partnership.”
So it seems that now, after the interminable wait for the ACP to be finalised, the 38th America’s Cup has finally kicked into gear and given us all something to look forward to. According to today’s press release from America’s Cup Media from November 1 the establishment of the Partnership will now move into a more practical phase of set up with a transfer of assets, establishment of key committees and appointment of key ACP personnel.
Meanwhile the operational work going on in Naples around the development of the Bagnoli event site will continue as planned. There has been no word yet about plans for the AC38 Preliminary Regattas in 2026 and 2027 – although I am reliably informed that the venues for all of these have been locked in.
Just how quickly we will hear which teams have challenged for 2027 remains to be seen but here’s hoping for a clean sweep return for all five of those who competed in AC37 and fingers crossed for a bonus second Italian entry.
