31.03.2022

Toda & Nel-lo advises Barcelona's bid to host the 37th America's Cup.

The union between the public and private sectors has been the key to the success of Barcelona's bid to host the 37th America's Cup.

A multidisciplinary team of lawyers from Toda & Nel-lo led by Ignacio Toda and Javier Hernández has advised Barcelona's bid to host the 37th edition of the America's Cup, made up of different Catalan public administrations (including the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council, the Port of Barcelona, the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Barcelona Tourism consortium) as well as a large group of private individuals. After a tough battle with three other cities, Malaga, Cork (Ireland) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), the current champion of the competition and organiser of the next edition, Emirates Team New Zealand, decided last Tuesday 29th of March that Barcelona will host this global sporting event.

The legal team of Toda & Nel-lo has advised the Barcelona bid in its participation in the process organised by Emirates Team New Zealand for the election of the venue, as well as in the legal aspects of the contractual documentation signed with the New Zealand racing team after the election of Barcelona. The work carried out has been quite a challenge due to the size and importance of the public-private collaboration project that has been carried out, given the composition of the candidature, and the tight deadlines that have finally been managed to assemble all the elements of this, in view of the existing deadline for the election of the venue. Barcelona & Partners, an agency belonging to the non-profit organisation Barcelona Global, has also participated in the design of the economic aspects of the candidature and in the negotiation of its terms with Emirates Team New Zealand.

The first edition of the America's Cup dates back to 1851 and is the oldest sporting competition in the world if we consider the Olympic Games only in its modern era, and the third most important sporting event after the Summer Olympics and the Football World Cup. The final race series of the 37th America's Cup is scheduled to be held in Barcelona in the autumn of 2024 between Emirates Team New Zealand, as Defender, and the Challenger team that wins the series of races between the competing teams challenging for the trophy. This year's America's Cup will also feature an all-women's race for the first time and a major engineering project is planned to provide hydrogen propulsion for the motorised chase boats normally used in the competition.