The America's Cup, the oldest sailing competition, is dusting itself off to ensure its longevity.
After months of wrangling between "challenges" (contending teams), the organizers of the America's Cup unveiled the "protocol" (rules) for its 38th edition on Tuesday, August 12. It aims to make this sailing competition, created in 1851 and until now governed by dusty rules, " more inclusive, more attractive, and more financially viable ," in order to ensure its longevity.
In a joint statement, Team New Zealand (TNZ), the "defender" (outgoing winner), and the British team Athena Racing, the "challenger of record" (first team to take up the challenge against TNZ for the next edition), revealed that the 18 kg, 1.10 m silver ewer – the oldest sporting trophy in the world – will now be put back into play every two years and that the final regatta – preceded by preliminary events in 2026 and early 2027 – will take place in Naples (Italy) in July 2027.
In a concession to the tense economic and climatic context and the growing questions about the advisability of organizing expensive sporting events, each team's budget will be capped at 75 million euros ($87 million). Those – including France – that participated in the last edition, in Barcelona (Spain) in 2024-2025, will have to keep the same AC75 boat hulls (23 m), while the new "challenges" will have to buy an existing AC75 hull or build one with identical characteristics.
Five crew members including at least one womanMost of the boats' functions will now be powered by batteries rather than the sole power of their crews, and the race format has been revised to optimize sailing time and keep teams competing for longer.
Each crew will be composed of five members and must include at least one woman: a revolution. At least two members of each crew—including one woman—must be nationals of each team's home country. Each boat will carry a sixth "guest" person—a celebrity, influencer, media representative, or sponsor—to ensure visibility and " maximize fan engagement ," the protocol details.
In addition, this document radically redefines the governance system of the event. All teams involved in the competition will now be responsible for " collectively managing the sporting and non-sporting format of the event, as well as the development, protection, and marketing of media and commercial rights," it specifies.
In short, each team will now have its say, whereas the America's Cup until now gave the outgoing winner the privilege of defining the location, date, bases and rules of participation for the next edition.
“The boldest change in 174 years”" By negotiating this protocol and the America's Cup partnership with the challenger of record, we are giving teams, commercial partners and host cities the certainty of being able to invest in multiple editions," said Grant Dalton, CEO of Team New Zealand, the "challenge" winner of the last three editions ( 2017 , 2021 and 2025) which, due to a lack of public funding, cannot organize the next one at home. "This is the boldest change in 174 years of the Cup ," he continued.
