Stuart Alexander reported over the weekend that the America’s Cup Competitors’ Forum would meet on Monday 16 March 2015, presumably to finalize the venue for the AC Qualifiers.
Originally due by February 15, 2015, the announcement of the venue for the AC Qualifiers was delayed to this month. What are the AC Qualifiers? Under the Protocol, all competitors, including defender Oracle Team USA, will race in a double round robin called the America’s Cup Qualifiers. The top four challengers then to move to Bermuda for the America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs which will determine who faces OTUSA in the America’s Cup Match in June 2017. Details of the competition format here.
Commercial Commissioner Harvey Schiller hinted in December that Auckland would be chosen, and sources in New Zealand have recently claimed that the announcement is imminent. Will Auckland be confirmed? One of the deciding factors is funding from the New Zealand government – for venue fees to ACEA, for harbor infrastructure and for sponsorship of Emirates Team New Zealand. The other important factor will be getting approval from the European challengers. Moving their operations to New Zealand for several months would add millions to their expenses. Time lost moving from New Zealand to Bermuda could give Oracle Team USA an important competitive advantage, unless the Protocol is modified to restrict OTUSA from training in their second AC62 while the competitors’ AC62’s are in transit.
Potential sponsors will clearly be waiting for the announcement, making life difficult for ETNZ, Ben Ainslie Racing and Team France, all of which are counting on commercial sponsorship.
Where will the AC Qualifiers be held? Stand by for more information from ACEA.