New global partnership agreement paves the way for a ‘supercharged’ America’s Cup

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.