America's Cup: Bidding war fires up for remaining AC40 Regatta spot.

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 45 - March 25, 2023 - Cagliari © Ivo Rovira / America's Cup

Italian media are reporting that two venues are working on late bids to host the second and final of the Preliminary Regattas for the 37th America's Cup to be held in Barcelona.

Fabio Pozzo, the well-connected America's Cup correspondent for La Stampa, reported last week that the Minister for Tourism for the Region of Sardinia (RAS), Gianni Chessa, had withdrawn RAS from hosting the second Preliminary Regatta, after six months of discussion, and meetings with America's Cup Event, the event management arm of America's Cup holders Emirates Team New Zealand.

However, according to the latest report in La Stampa, Chessa is reported to be trying to walk back his decision after it attracted widespread criticism in Italy, which has a long history of participation in the Cup and has many millions of passionate America's Cup fans.

"Last Friday and Saturday, there were two meetings via Zoom between the Sardinia Region and the Spanish lawyer who represents ACE," says La Stampa.

The political groups who have come out against Chessa's decision to "definance" the proposed event are significant in the Sardinian political context. Chessa is reported to have claimed that the €6 million cost of the event was really to be spent on promoting sporting events in Sardinia, which Chessa had previously declared the "Island of Sport".

Chessa claimed that ACE had said that Sardina would host the first AC40 regatta, something ACE confirmed was put on the table at the start of the six-month discussion cycle. ACE confirmed that the offer was correct at the time of the first meeting in August 2022. But it had since been lost in the bureaucratic whirlpool of information requests and questions from RAS, which had not even resulted in a Letter of Intent from the Sardinians, let alone submission of a draft contract, which ACE expected would state the points of high-level agreement between the two parties.

Under the terms of the Protocol governing the 37th edition of the America's Cup, ACE is obliged to announce the dates for the Preliminary Regattas by April 16, 2023, or last Sunday. An amendment to the Protocol gave ACE two more weeks until April 30, 2023, to announce the two venues where the six teams entered in the 2024 America's Cup will compete against each other in AC40 foiling monohulls, sailed by four crew.

While RAS bureaucrats sought more information, America's Cup Event Ltd was in discussions with Vilanova in Spain's Catalonian region, who were able to decide on hosting within a month on the same base information initially provided to Chessa's event negotiating team.

As the first to make a favourable decision on the event, Vilanova could pick their regatta date and will hold the first AC40 event.

Over the weekend, a second group from Brindisi on the Italian mainland's Adriatic coast was reported by La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno as keen to bid for the regatta forfeited by RAS and Chessa.

La Gazzetta reports the new Brindisi group to have been "launched in recent days by the president of the Southern Adriatic Sea System Authority Ugo Patroni Griffi, immediately finds support in the president of Confindustria Brindisi Gabriele Menotti Lippolis who immediately started involving a series of enthusiastic partners of the initiative, who immediately got to work activating their entire series of contacts."

The paper lists a formidable group who have said to have held one informal meeting over the weekend and will hold their first meeting today, Monday. The report says the bid has the support of high-level government leaders and ministers of sport.

The Brindisi group are taking their lead from the SailGP regatta to be staged in Taranto this September, where many of the AC40/America's Cup crews will also compete.

Grant Dalton, Chief Executive Officer of the Emirates Team New Zealand America's Cup race team, has a similar function within America's Cup Event Ltd, has flown to Europe and is expected to pick up the work underway by the ACE team based in Barcelona.

Dalton's style is to interact directly with serious parties, and his presence in Europe is expected to bring negotiations to a quick conclusion. Under the Protocol for the 2024 Ameruca's Cup, ACE must give teams six months' notice of the dates and venue for the Preliminary Events. If a deal cannot be made in Europe, then the event could move to a location outside Europe at a later time.

Meanwhile, strong winds, which have been buffeting Auckland for the past three days, kept Emirates Team New Zealand's modified America's Cup champion in the shed today. However, these winds have now eased to 15-20kts, and the Kiwi team's AC75 is expected to recommence testing and take advantage of the big seaway currently running in the Hauraki Gulf.