The vice president of the America’s Cup assures that “if Barcelona wants, Barcelona can”
BARCELONA, 14 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The vice president of America’s Cup Events Barcelona (ACE Barcelona), Aurora Catà, believes that there are “many more options” than it may seem for Barcelona to repeat as host of the Copa América, whose 37th edition will be hosted in 2024 with the expectation that it will be an “absolute success” and with all the logistics already ready in one year for the regattas for the title, which Emirates Team New Zealand defends.
In an interview with Europa Press, Aurora Catà – number 2 of the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona 2024 – assures that there are “many more options than people believe” for Barcelona to “repeat as host of the Copa América” , and that, in short, “if Barcelona wants, Barcelona can.”
“First of all, I’m going to the competition. Team New Zealand is the only team that has a 50% chance of winning, because it is the only one that goes directly to the final, and they have said publicly, and other teams too, that They will seriously consider repeating Barcelona as a venue,” he revealed.
Hence, Barcelona has the ‘pole position’, if the city and the rest of the institutions want, to also host the 38th edition in 2028. “It is difficult for me to think of what could happen so that Barcelona would not repeat. It could happen that Barcelona would not want , but I don’t see it… Really, we have had, I insist, as an organization of an event of this dimension, situations of fixing everything with will, vocation and complicity, from all over the world,” Catà celebrated.
“From the first there is complicity of institutions at all levels, of all colors, for a common project for all that puts Barcelona back as a city and as a community on the international map. We have found a solution to everything and we continue Let me say, as friends as the first day, and that is really difficult to repeat,” he highlighted.
For all this, Aurora Catà was more than clear: “If Barcelona wants, if Catalonia and Spain and the entire entity wants to repeat, can it be repeated? Yes, I always say ‘if Barcelona vol, Barcelona go’. That is, if Barcelona wants, Barcelona can.”
Reasons to repeat in Barcelona? Well, it is an “extraordinary and incomparable” city. “There are wonderful cities, but they are not comparable. If everything goes as it should, we hope it will be a success. Could there be another Copa América in Barcelona? Yes, obviously. And we would also play with a great advantage because we would have already done it once.” , contributed, in this sense.
“Here in Barcelona, all the infrastructure is in place. If the event has good participation and is also enjoyed by everyone, well, those are obvious pluses. But there may be offers and cities that really make other interesting proposals. But right now we don’t have any. Not even Barcelona, which would have to present a candidacy again and become formal,” the vice president of the Copa América of Barcelona clarified in this sense.
ONE YEAR AWAY, EVERYTHING PREPARED
On the other hand, there is less than a year left until the 37th America’s Cup Match, the final regattas for the title, begins on October 12, 2024. “We are counting down and every day that we get closer to that ‘deadline’ everything accelerates more, everything takes on more dimension and body,” Catà acknowledged.
“We have been working for many, many months, since March 2022, in preparation, in establishing the foundations of everything that an event of this dimension implies, and now we are in the final execution, in visualizing everything that will be is proposing. At the logistical level everything is done,” he celebrated.
In fact, since last April, all the teams – New Zealand, Switzerland, France, the United States, Great Britain and Italy – have already been training daily in the waters of Barcelona. “You can see the AC75 flying boats, the Formula 1 of the sea, training in the Port of Barcelona every day, and the truth is that in itself this is already a spectacle,” he said.
A major logistical exercise for the organization, managing to have all the team members in Barcelona more than a year before the start of the competition. “We are talking about about 150 people with their families per team, so looking for accommodation, schools because we are talking about up to 600 children who have already gone to school, that whole part is also there,” he said.
Of course, there is something that cannot be controlled, not even the CEO of the competition, the skipper of the ‘defending’ Emirates Team New Zealand, Grant Dalton. “What is it that we cannot control? What is it that we cannot manage? What is it that we cannot do? The weather, that on the day of the final regatta the wind does not blow or it is a day of a storm of lightning, as happened in Vilanova (in the first Preliminary regatta). The most difficult thing is fighting against the elements. But that’s sailing,” he acknowledged.
AN OPEN AMERICAN CUP TO BARCELONA
Without a doubt, one of the values and convictions of Team New Zealand, as organizer of the America’s Cup, is that the competition is an event “absolutely open to all citizens” of Barcelona, which as a city “helps a lot” for a coast that gains depth very quickly.
“The regatta can come very close to the beaches. It will be easy to see live and to follow all the audiovisual support that will be provided both on the screens and on the mobile phones or tablets themselves. And our television signal will have augmented reality and incorporated, which what it does is take all the data from each ship – which have many sensors – and a lot of information is sent, in a result that is what allows us to know the course, the speed, who is ahead, and everything “it is drawn on top of reality. And it will make the regatta very understandable,” explained Aurora Catà.
In addition, he announced to Europa Press that the Copa América in Barcelona 2024 will have a unique video game. “We will make an ‘e-game’, which will also be presented in Barcelona, with which, let’s say, we are collaborating. The entire profile of Barcelona will be incorporated into the game and it is another of the important novelties of this Copa América. I think that there has never been an e-game dedicated to an edition,” he said.