FIVE VENUES RETAINED
FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION
AC MANAGEMENT PUBLISHES THE VENUES
SHORT-LISTED FOR THE NEXT AMERICA'S CUP.
GENEVA
- 12 June 2003 - With the objective of choosing
the venue and host city for the 32nd America's
Cup, AC Management retained eight European venues
in March this year. At the time the eight were
each requested to supply in-depth technical information
to facilitate AC Management's task in making the
best choice of venue for the next event of the
world's oldest sporting trophy, the America's
Cup. In particular, the eight cities were asked
questions concerning specific local weather patterns,
outline plans for the hosting arrangements as
well as details of their initial thoughts on the
likely infrastructure and logistical facilities.
Over
the past ten weeks, this unique search for a European
venue suited to hosting an event as important
as the America¹s Cup has required extensive
studies and on-site visits.
"I
have followed the process carefully," says
Pierre-Yves Firmenich, Commodore of the Société
Nautique de Genève, "and each of the
eight candidates presented outstanding bids. It
has obviously been extremely difficult to make
the choice. However, ultimately, only one venue
can be chosen and so it is now time to publish
a shortlist."
The
remaining venues are, in alphabetical order, Lisbon
(POR), Marseille (FRA), Naples (ITA), Palma de
Mallorca (ESP), Valencia (ESP).
Michel
Bonnefous, CEO of AC Management commented: "With
this shortlist we have refined our goals considerably
and will now work closely with each of the remaining
venues through the next crucial steps in the process.
Over the coming months, we will be concentrating
on the more precise details for hosting the America's
Cup. We need to understand clearly the minutiae
of every positive and negative element associated
with each venue. It is probable that the next
announcement in this process will be the identity
of the final choice."
As
defined in the America¹s Cup Protocol, this
announcement will be made on or before December
15, 2003.
