America's Cup in Barcelona generates a positive economic impact of over €1 billion
by America's Cup Media 4 Mar 2025 06:45 PST
Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup - October 2024 - Barcelona © Ian Roman / America's Cup
The University of Barcelona and the Barcelona Capital Nàutica Foundation (FBCN) have released the outcome of their exhaustive post event economic impact study which revealed over €1 billion positive economic GDP return that the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup created for the host venue Barcelona, Catalonia.
The study reported a €1.034 billion (NZD $1.9billion) positive economic benefit for host venue of the 37th America's Cup Barcelona, Catalonia. [S-W: The Event Fee paid to America's Cup Event Ltd is believed to have been €70million - covered by a mix of governmental and private funding.]
1.8 million visitors were counted over the 59 days across all free to attend event sites on and off the water including 460,819 unique attendees to Barcelona that came specifically to be part of the 37th America's Cup event.
The 37th America's Cup created the equivalent of 12,872 jobs in Barcelona and generated €208.5 million in tax revenue.
€1.367 billion total gross media brand value associated with all events on the 37th America's Cup with a total TV audience of 954 million.
The Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup held in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain) in 2024 has added another iconic chapter to the 173-year history of the oldest trophy in international sport and the pinnacle of world sailing.
The event, which ran from August 22nd through to October 19th 2024, continued the positive upward trend of setting new standards of innovation, performance, attendance, audience and viewership growth and led the way with unprecedented global impact in women's sailing.
America's Cup Event CEO Grant Dalton highlighted just how significant the economic benefit has been for Barcelona, Catalonia and the America's Cup:
"It is hugely satisfying to see that the America's Cup has made such a significantly positive economic contribution to the GDP of Barcelona and Catalonia.
The €1.034 billion economic uplift is a reflection of the collaborative and positive approach the numerous host entities within Barcelona, Catalonia, and Spain all brought to facilitate the best event possible for the Host Venue.
It is also recognition of all the event staff and teams that made Barcelona their home and worked so tirelessly on the event, and of course all of the international media, the volunteers, fans and supporters that showed up in their many thousands from around the world."
The overall global exposure, all presented the host city of Barcelona in 11,182 hours of global broadcast spotlight which created 43,186 hours of global broadcast brand exposure which based on Nielsen data equated to a total gross brand exposure value of €1.367 billion for all of the brands, sponsors and host venue associated with the 37th America's Cup.
A total audience of 954 million viewers and a 37% growth in the dedicated audience as well as a 235% increase in overall social media views including 9.6 million hours of watch time on YouTube, making the 37th edition the most watched America's Cup ever.
"The 37th edition of the America's Cup will always be remembered as one of the best yet and one that continued to build the commercial strength and audience of the widely recognised pinnacle event in sailing," said Dalton.
Barcelona, Catalonia now joins the illustrious and exclusive list of global cities to host the America's Cup, and can proudly be remembered for delivering one of the best America's Cup experiences ever in the 173-year history, and where for the summer of 2024, the city and people of Barcelona turned to the sea to witness sailing history which will leave an enduring legacy for many decades to come.
Key Findings:
- A €1.034 billion positive economic benefit for the host venue of the 37th America's Cup
- 1.8 million visitors were counted over the 59 days across all event sites on and off the water including 460,819 unique attendees to Barcelona that came specifically to be part of the event.
- The 37th America's Cup created the equivalent of 12,872 jobs in Barcelona.
- 90% of the 380 different event suppliers and providers were locally based businesses.
- Three free event sites totalling 32,000sqm provided free viewing
- The 37th America's Cup gaining an 8.8 out of 10 satisfaction score from the nearly 4,000 attendees surveyed across the event sites.
- 244 superyachts attended the event injecting a spend of €35 million into the local economy.
- There were 11,182 hours of global broadcast coverage.
- Total gross brand exposure value of €1.367 billion for all of the brands, sponsors and host venue associated with the 37th America's Cup
- Total TV audience of 954 million
- There was 9.6 million hours of watch time on YouTube.
- Social media viewership increased by 235%
- 37% growth in the Dedicated Audience of the 37th America's Cup
- There were a total 1,068 team members in Barcelona across six America's Cup teams, 12 Puig Women's, and 12 UniCredit Youth America's Cup teams.
- 11 AC40 foiling yachts were built for the Preliminary Regattas in Vilanova i la Geltrú and Jeddah, the UniCredit Youth America's Cup and the Puig Women's America's Cup and it was named "Boat of the Year" by World Sailing.
- The official America's Cup E-Sports game was downloaded over 100,000 times. There were eight Grand Finalists invited to Barcelona from seven different countries and the 'Gamer to Sailor' initiative took the winning two gamers racing in the AC40s.
- Sustainability and contributing to the Barcelona Blue Economy was a priority, and nine hydrogen powered foiling chase boats were constructed and used across team and event operations, which eliminated 78,000 litres of fuel from on water operations which reduced 181,531kgs of CO2 emissions.
- There were 1,512 media articles written consisting of 1.886 million words, and over 250,000 photo images downloaded by media from the America's Cup photo library.
- There were 20,677 young people reached through the 37th America's Cup via the various educational programs such as the FBCN's "Programa Educatiu La Navegació al Segle XXI, Un Repte Tecnològic", the city council's "VIU LA VELA" program and the America's Cup Trophy Tour regattas.
- The volunteer program called "Team B" quickly became the beating heart of the event, with 2,300 volunteers, 78% being local residents.
- The AC75s regularly clocked speeds of more than 54 knots or 100km/h with the fastest recorded by the British team with a speed of 55.6 knots or 102.97km/h.
- Emirates Team New Zealand were victors of the 37th America's Cup winning for the 3rd time in a row.
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