It appears change is on the horizon for the America’s Cup.
After being criticised for a lack of transparency by several challengers in recent weeks, including challenger of record Athena Racing, defenders Emirates Team New Zealand made the draft protocol for the next edition readily available for anyone who wanted to read it.
While it is only a draft, it shows an event moving in the right direction in key areas for the average fan, including more sailing involved in the campaign and looser nationality rules to allow for increased competitiveness.
It is still not known when to expect a finalised protocol, though initial indications were that it was to be unveiled by June 20 (NZT).
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the draft, in terms of what we can expect to see on the water in Naples in 2027, can be found in two outstanding points under the AC75 class rule.
First is the make-up of the crew itself. The draft protocol indicates a move from eight sailors to six on board, one of those being female and another being a youth (25 or younger at the start of the Cup match).
In order to lower the number of crew on the boats, the power supply would again undergo some changes.
Following the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland, tweaks were made around how teams could supply power on the boat, moving from grinders to cyclors in a bid to have fewer people aboard in Barcelona.
It’s a similar case in this draft protocol, with suggestions to take manual power out of the equation totally. The cyclors would be replaced by a battery system designed to “mimic the capability of human cyclors in terms of average power output, peak power, fatigue and other relevant data, enabling crews to determine how best to use the power available during a race”.
These changes have not yet been agreed by the defender and the challenger of record.
Another point in this article of the document is the inclusion of a guest racer in a specified area of the boat during competition. The guest racer would be subject to a 100kg weight limit, and these spots would be made available for sponsors and other stakeholders nominated by America’s Cup Partnership (ACP) – a new entity that would take over the management of the Cup.
The draft protocol indicates the defender, the challenger of record and other prospective teams have agreed to establish the partnership, which would be appointed as the event authority for AC38 and commence operation as soon as practicable after June 30.
The ACP would have the responsibility of organising and managing the format and commercial rights of AC38. Those responsibilities would also include working with the defender on host venues for events and staying in regular communication with all competitors. This would be a major change to the way the America’s Cup operates with this role currently carried out by the defender through America’s Cup Event Limited, of which Grant Dalton is chief executive.
One possible alteration in the new protocol had already been publicised: the desire to loosen nationality rules.
In the last edition of the event, 100% of the on-board crew had to either hold a passport of the country their team was representing or have been physically present in the country – or representing their yacht club during the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland – for two of the previous three years.
That is set to change for this campaign, with two non-nationals allowed to sail with each team. The only consideration is that those non-nationals can’t have competed for another team in Barcelona last year.
This rule does not, however, apply to the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup teams, who will retain their 100% nationality rule.
Nationality rules are among the areas highlighted in the draft protocol as an area of outstanding discussion, however. There is a space for a further point in article 30.1 (nationality rules) of the protocol, the details of which we not made clear in the draft. Instead, it said the point was under review and the challenger of record had been requested to provide wording for consideration by the defender.
In terms of the racing itself, it’s happy reading for fans of the event – and for the teams wanting to spend more time competing.
One of the biggest notes from teams involved in the America’s Cup over the last couple of cycles has been a plea for more racing. In the last edition of the Cup, there were three preliminary regattas – two raced on AC40s and the third on the full-scale AC75s. That number could rise to as many as five regattas before the Challenger Series in Naples in 2027.
Teams would have to pay a flat fee of €5 million ($9.5m) to ACP or, if agreed by the challenger of record and defender, to the defender to enter the campaign. They’d also have to pay US$25,000 ($42,000) to America’s Cup Properties Incorporated (ACPI), the company that holds the America’s Cup trademark registrations and licensor of those marks, and a performance bond of €1m if required by ACP, but there would be no additional entry fees for participation in the preliminary regattas.
This differs from the protocol of the 37th America’s Cup, where challengers were required to pay an entry fee of US$2,250,000 in two instalments for the campaign, as well as US$25,000 to ACPI, US$150,000 to maintaining the event website and social media and a performance bond of US$1,000,000, which would be returned after the regatta if the challenger did not withdraw prior to being eliminated in the challenger series.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
OPINION: The protocol suggests an America's Cup partnership for joint event decisions.