America's Cup: Prada to be replaced as event sponsor for 2024

As sponsor Prada's representative in Auckland, the late Francesco Longanesi Cattani present the Prada Cup to Luna Rossa skipper, Max Sirena © Carlo Borlenghi / Luna Rossa

The America’s Cup is looking for new sponsors after Italian fashion giant Prada was squeezed out of the next regatta in Barcelona in 2024, writes Duncan Johnstone on Stuff.co.nz.

The decision by Prada ends an acrimonious period between the Italian syndicate Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Cup champions Emirates Team New Zealand.

But the Kiwis see huge benefit in a new multi-level Olympics-type sponsorship setup for the Cup’s return to the European market they believe could allow them to fully fund the team and the event.

“We have completely re-engineered our sponsorship model since Auckland. That model was based on the relationship around the Prada domination of all properties, it was broken and needed a new approach,” Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton told Stuff.

“The sum of the parts will be more beneficial than the individual part as we work towards funding the event and the team in the hope of a successful defence.”

The sponsorship drive started on September 1 and Dalton said there was strong interest.

But he is also a realist: “We have the same problems as the rest of the world … there is a war and there is a recession. It doesn’t get any easier.

“But Barcelona is helping enormously, and it is everything we hoped it would be, it’s amazing.”

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