Barcelona "out" despite a 37 e successful edition?
As winner, the New Zealand team retains the role of "Defender" and is responsible for organizing the next edition. The Challenger of Record, i.e. the first club to challenge the Defender, will be awarded to the British team INEOS Britannia, which already occupied this role in the 37th edition.
In a delicate political and economic context, Barcelona City Council, which had put 130 million euros on the table to host the Cup, announced that it would not be able to devote this sum to a future campaign. However, it remained open to discussions with private partners. However, Grant Dalton has vetoed the idea of maintaining the event in Barcelona, considering that the Catalan city is unable to accommodate new teams due to lack of space.
Also in Spain, Valencia has positioned itself as a host city. Having already hosted the Cup in 2007, the city's infrastructure is in line with the Defender's ambitions
Saudi Arabia, Turkey or New Zealand as playgrounds?
Jeddah and Istanbul have also expressed interest. With its considerable investment capacity, Jeddah has expressed its desire to host the Cup, but does not have a water surface that everyone agrees on.
More hypothetically, the choice of Istanbul is unlikely, as top-level sailing is not in Turkey's DNA.
But Grant Dalton has once again upset the negotiating balance, announcing that the return of the Cup to New Zealand is not out of the question. But the economically troubled country is not prepared to pay a single dollar to finance the teams' return to the southern hemisphere. As in Barcelona, majority funding from private partners is the sine qua non for ensuring the trophy's return to the country that has won it three times.
One thing's for sure: it's unlikely that the next edition will be held in 2028, as all the teams have decided to shorten the calendar in order to benefit from greater media exposure.
Major economic benefits
But nothing is ever simple in the world of the Cup. In the current economic downturn, it's not easy to justify the financial investments made by local authorities or private partners, despite the apparent success of the edition held in Barcelona. The event generated almost a billion euros in revenue for the city, taking into account direct visitor spending, sponsor investment and the long-term impact on tourism promotion. In addition, international brands took advantage of the opportunity to promote their products, contributing to the injection of capital into the local market.
