It is midday on the beach of La Barceloneta when the sound of the horns of the large luxury yachts suddenly surprises passers-by who are not participating in the Sailing America’s Cup. “They say goodbye and encourage the teams who are going to compete,” Angela Patel, a New Zealand supporter, is quick to point out when she is approached by a group of agitated tourists.
The Copa América is two or three days before the curtain drops in Barcelona. The fans, with an overwhelming majority from New Zealand – the kiwis–expect the current champion, Emirates Team New Zealand, to win. The fan areas, from the Race Village of Port Vell to that of Plaça del Mar, fill up as the day progresses and, although without crowds, leave behind the images with stands half empty from the first weeks of September.
Just 50 meters from the beach, Pedro Marco is preparing to open the shutters of Refugi del Port, a restaurant with four decades of tradition in Barceloneta. After a month and a half of regattas, with cultural and sporting activities linked to the event, this hotelier openly admits that it was not what he expected. “The restaurants of high standing Maybe they noticed, but not those of us in the mid-range,” he says. “It’s too elitist a sport.”
High-end restaurants may have noticed, but those of us in the mid-range haven’t.
The Sailing America’s Cup, organized for the first time in the Catalan capital and announced with great fanfare by the main administrations since 2022, has left many residents, traders and restaurateurs unmoved. Especially to those who hoped to benefit from attendance figures and economic impact that they are now calling into question.
One of them is Mónica Delgado, a taxi driver, who describes what she and some of her colleagues suffered as a “batacaca”. “We had very high expectations on everything that was put in place, on the traffic effects, on the works… We hoped for a greater impact,” he believes. “I have not, without going any further, promoted anyone linked to the Copa América during all this time,” he specifies. And he adds that due to the profile of many participants, they may have resorted to renting private vehicles with drivers.
The figures with which the Copa América was presented were those of an economic impact on the city of almost 1,200 million euros, an estimate prepared by academics from the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) with data provided by the organization, the America’s Cup Event company. (AS). Most of this income was to come from visitors, mostly foreigners, and their spending in the city. There would be between 2.5 and 3 million participants, according to a first report prepared by the organizers and made public by the Generalitat at the request of the CUP.
We had high expectations about everything that was put in place, about traffic disruptions, about the works… A greater impact was expected
However, over time, the weekly The live He revealed that in previous editions, the organization included among the participants all passers-by who passed through the fan zones. Actual audience data also does not match the repeated slogan that it is the third most followed sporting competition in the world (in Spain, TV3 and TVE broadcasts have never reached 1% share of ‘screen).
If the Barcelona Hoteliers Guild celebrated before the summer that the Copa América would attract a full house and a “massive” attendance, in September it also toned down the tone. They assured a press conference that the impact of the sporting event on their bookings would not be “excessively significant”, while insisting that it continues to be a “great showcase” to promote the city in the world.
“The promotion carried out by the Copa América in Barcelona is spectacular and is part of the tourism with high purchasing power and not overcrowded which interests us,” declares the manager of a hotel in Barcelona. A loyal defender of the event, he admits at the same time that its impact cannot be calculated in reserves. “In quantitative terms, this is of little importance, it cannot be compared to a Mobile World Congress, and the municipality itself already knows this,” he emphasizes.
The council assured on October 9, before the start of the last regattas, that the attendance of the fan zones, most of which were accessible to the public, had been 1.6 million visits – and not visitors. Furthermore, the Town Hall, led by the socialist Jaume Collboni, defends above all that the competition will leave a sporting and blue economy legacy (businesses linked to maritime activity) which will appreciate over time.
The “kiwis” take over the “fan zone”
Shortly before 2:00 p.m., as the regattas begin which last until 4:00 p.m., an employee of the Race Village in Port Vell accelerates her tupperware and takes stock as a collaborator of the event. “Except for the hours of competition, and especially the days when there is no regatta, it is true that it has been a desert,” he underlines. “These avenues were completely empty,” he adds, pointing to the streets that form the stands and through which dozens of people now parade.
This Wednesday during rush hour, several hundred fans, mainly from Team New Zealand, are buzzing with each stage of the race broadcast on the big screens. There is not a single empty chair; Nor too much of a queue to order a beer or a hamburger. In the Barcelona stadium, supporters fill the place until they have to sit on the floor. Others, accompanied by curious tourists, occupy part of the beach.
“The truth is that in Barcelona there are so many tourists that it seems like there are a lot of us sailing fans, but I think it’s just us New Zealanders,” laughs Barry Atkins, one more of the tide. kiwi. A New Zealander living in London, a retired food businessman and an amateur sailor with his sailboat in the south of France, Atkins mentally looks back at all the America’s Cup finals he has attended. Auckland, Valencia, San Francisco… and now the Catalan capital.
“The truth is that in Barcelona there are so many tourists that it seems like there are a lot of us sailing fans, but I think it’s just us New Zealanders!”
“The organization was very good,” assesses this veteran, who does not hesitate to fully enter into the citizen debate that the event has sparked: “I understand that many Barcelona residents do not feel close to the competition, especially if we talk about boats. . extremely technical and owned by billionaires. “I don’t consider myself an elitist person,” he adds, “but maybe that’s the case,” he concludes, pointing to the sailboats that sail in the waters of Barcelona on the other side of the screen.
Superyachts meet expectations
If anyone can boast of having met expectations, even before the end of the America’s Cup, it is BWA Yachting Spain, the Spanish subsidiary of the largest luxury yacht agency. They expected around 200 large boats to dock at the city’s luxury marinas to watch the competition and there ended up being between 250 and 300. “The event was so popular that we had to collaborate with the port of Barcelona to allow places. », explains its manager, Antonella Della Pietra.
Neither Marina Vela nor Port Vell can accommodate a pin. There are many multi-story superyachts, with swimming pools and crews numbering in the dozens. The largest at present is the Opera House, owned by Emirati Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, 146 meters long. Another of the most luxurious is the Vava, owned by tycoon Ernesto Bertarelli, owner of the Swiss team that competed in the Cup, Alinghi Red Bull Racing. According to BWA calculations, the Barcelona docks will have welcomed around 4,000 visitors, to which will be added another 4,000 crew members.
The day ends with an unexpected double defeat for the New Zealanders, which leaves the score open: for the moment 4-2 against Ineos Britannia. A hard setback in the euphoria that the Kiwis have been experiencing for days, who already saw themselves close to the title.
The boats return to the quay and leave behind a swarm of sailboats and other boats that fans use as a preferred means of following the cup. On the Mirador promenade, in the shadow of the imposing Vela hotel, a few curious people observe the withdrawal.
From this same point, four hours earlier, Quique Vivanco and his colleague were playing at guessing the silhouette of the two competing sailboats in the distance. Arriving from Calella, 50 kilometers from Barcelona, they wanted to attend at least one day to a sport of which they declare themselves fans.
“We wanted to come for more days, but we have already seen clearly that it is better to continue from home,” they commented. Vivancos explained that he had a friend with a sailboat in Arenys de Mar with whom he was going to attend the event, but they were not clear either. “Even from the sea, they don’t let you get close enough to appreciate it.”
