The culmination of a nearly year-long process sees Bermuda picked over San Diego as the host of the next America’s Cup , an inside source has told The Associated Press today.
The news wire reported that Oracle software billionaire Larry Ellison made the decision after consulting with the CEO of his sailing team, New Zealander Russell Coutts, who also is director of the America’s Cup Event Authority.
Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton then released a statement saying the team had not been told of any decision saying, “We have been invited to a press conference to be held at New York on December 2 when the announcement will be made. Until then it is only media speculation
Russell Coutts speaking from New Zealand declined to confirm the decision, saying he was under a non-disclosure agreement.
San Diego and Bermuda remain the only potential choice of venues but the choice of the British territory is intriguing, given the financial incentives that include tax-free status for regatta participants.
Sailors and other members of America’s Cup syndicates are expected to benefit from tax breaks offered by Bermuda. Some America’s Cup sailors earn six-figure salaries. Others in the sport, such as Coutts, are paid millions of dollars a year. Bonuses are a big part of their pay packages.
This will be the first time a US defender holds the America’s Cup outside the United States. It’ll also be the first time in the regatta’s 163-year history that a defender sails the races in foreign waters by choice rather than necessity.
In 2007 and 2010, Alinghi of Switzerland held the America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain, because it wasn’t practical to race on Lake Geneva.