America's Cup- San Francisco makes big move to secure the Venue

by Richard Gladwell on 10 Nov 2010
San Francisco took a big step towards securing selection as venue for the 34th America's Cup after the City's Board of Supervisors approved by a margin of 9-2, a Host City Agreement setting out the terms and conditions under which the City could be selected by the Defender Golden Gate Yacht Club.

To many, the selection is now like kissing your sister, as the Defender, San Francisco based Golden Gate Yacht Club gets to set the venue under the 19th century Deed of Gift for the 160year old trophy.

Given that the City has moved its position closer to that of the sole remaining bid from an Italian venue, believed to be the now Challenger of Record, Club Nautico di Roma, confirmation of San Francisco as venue by GGYC seems inevitable in early December 2010.

The draft Host City Agreement, submitted to the Board of Supervisors today, is available to download by http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2284087/Final%20HCA%2011.9.10.docx!clicking_here, and the proposed Resolution for the Adoption of the Host City Agreement by the Board of Supervisors can be seen by http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2284087/AC%20HCA%20Resolution%20Final.doc!clicking_here

Bernie Wilson reported in the Associated Press: 'I think this is more than significant,' said Tom Ehman, a spokesman for the GGYC and member of its America's Cup Committee. 'It's a big step forward for the 34th edition of the Cup. There can be no better venue for sailing than San Francisco Bay. Personally, I and the GGYC are very excited by the prospects and delighted with this latest development.'

The tail-end of the 50 page document revealed details of the proposed racing schedule, with the Challenger Selection Series slated to get underway on 13 July, and finish on 1 September. The 34th America's Cup is scheduled for 7 September 2013 and will run to 22 September 2013.

The documents filed with the City show that USA-17 will be a centrepiece of Pier 80 from February 2011 and will be used to attract spectators to the AV Public Park during the America's Cup World series event proposed for San Francisco.

Spectator numbers for the America's Cup events range from 50,000 per day on weekdays of the preliminaries to 500,000 spectators during the weekend days of the America's Cup Match.

A full day's entertainment schedule has been filed with the America's Cup Village opening at 0930hrs each day and closing at midnight, following a program format similar to that used by BMW Oracle Racing for its fans in Valencia in the 33rd America's Cup in February this year.

A key to that format will be interaction between the spectators and competitors, withe the Challengers and Defenders leaving from a public accessible area, to go racing rather than departing from secure bases.

The Challenger Selection Series is programmed to consist of three races per day of 45 minutes each, starting at 1300hrs each race day. The Challenger Selection Series will be in four phases being a Round Robin series, Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals (one race per day).

Entries for opened for the Challenger and Defender Series on 1 November. In addition to the Challenger of Record and Defender, two other clubs have entered - one from Sweden and another unnamed group.

The last multi-challenger America's cup was held in Valencia in 2007 and attracted 12 teams from 10 countries.

That event was sailed in 75ft monohulls weighing 25 tonnes, and capable of speeds of up to 13kts. The 34th America's Cup will be sailed in 72 catamarans weighing around four tonnes and projected to be capable of speeds of 25kts.

The statement issued by the City reads:

Mayor Gavin Newsom, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and other members of the Board of Supervisors today introduced San Francisco’s Host City Agreement, a final step in the consideration process to host the 34th America’s Cup. The Host City Agreement sets forth essential terms and conditions agreed upon by the America’s Cup Committee of the Golden Gate Yacht Club and the City of San Francisco in accordance with the Protocol for the 34th America’s Cup and the Term Sheet adopted by the Board of Supervisors by a vote of 9-2 on October 5, 2010.

'There is no better place and no better partner for the America’s Cup than San Francisco,' said Mayor Newsom. 'With this agreement, San Francisco is making its commitment to the America’s Cup in return for the Team’s commitment to bring the world’s oldest international sailing competition and all the jobs and long-term economic benefits that come with it to San Francisco. This is the opportunity of a lifetime we must not let pass.'

In addition to Mayor Newsom, Board of Supervisors President Chiu and Supervisor Mirkarimi, the Host City Agreement was also initially co-sponsored by Supervisors Michela Alioto-Pier, Carmen Chu, Bevan Dufty, and Sophie Maxwell. The San Francisco America’s Cup Organizing Committee is also a party to the Agreement.

Hosting the America’s Cup in San Francisco would bring a beautiful backdrop, predictable winds, world-class visitor amenities and enormous spectatorship opportunities that the natural marine amphitheater of the San Francisco Bay offers. In order to provide the Team with the highest level of certainty possible regarding a number of important issues, including the venue plan, key financial terms, sponsorship opportunities, schedule and event logistics, City staff have negotiated host city agreement with the team for endorsement by the Board of Supervisors.

'We as a City are coming together to put into place the commitments necessary to host the 34th America’s Cup in our Bay waters,' said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. 'The economy of the entire San Francisco Bay Area will benefit exponentially from hosting the America’s Cup in 2013, and we are preparing to bring this world class sailing race to our world class waterfront.'

'San Francisco is the only location for this event,' said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. 'Having been exposed during my youth to sailing and the America’s Cup, I know we have everything race organizers need, including the expertise and will, to host the ‘World Cup’ of sailing and make this event a historic success. I look forward to the Budget and Finance Committee hearing on the Agreement on December 1st, where we will hear concrete answers to the questions of how the America’s Cup will benefit the people of San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.'The Host City Agreement envisions the use of piers along the southern waterfront and leaves open the possibility of exploring and studying other sites if there are opportunities to deliver the facilities more quickly, using fewer resources on both sides, and further enhancing the America’s Cup experience in San Francisco. The possible alternatives are part of the Fiscal Feasibility study and will be included in the project’s California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review.

Hosting the Event in San Francisco would generate significant public benefits for the City, including providing a catalyst for the repair, improvement and productive reuse of City piers along the City’s central and southern waterfront that are currently in a such state of grave disrepair that there is no other viable plan to pay for the improvements. Hosting the America’s Cup would also generate an enormous amount of economic development in a very short period of time, including over 9,000 jobs and more than $1.4 billion of new economic activity.

There are additional terms in the Host City Agreement that expand upon the concepts in the Term Sheet including a number of suggestions made by members of the Board of Supervisors and the public during the prior hearings, and they include:

• Ensuring that the Event Authority receives future development opportunities commensurate with the infrastructure improvements necessary to build world class America’s Cup Village facilities on San Francisco’s public waterfront.

• As the specific plans for the 34th America’s Cup have not been finalized, the parties anticipate certain changes may be made by mutual agreement prior to the execution of the Venue Leases, the Development and Disposition Agreements for the Legacy Leases and/or the Transfer Agreement.

• Ensuring the highest environmental standards and sustainability programs are used for the America’s Cup event as well as the infrastructure improvements as well as using local labor and workforce for the infrastructure improvements undertaken by the Event Authority.

• Securing MOUs from key third parties, specifically federal and state agencies with oversight and are key parties to a successful hosting of the America’s Cup in San Francisco These include: the Coast Guard, FAA, FCC, GGNRA, Homeland Security, BCDC, to name a few.

• Affirmatively stating that the Board of Supervisors and/or the Port of San Francisco will have future discretionary approvals for the execution of the Venue Leases, Development and Disposition Agreements, Legacy Leases and Transfer Agreement, as well as any potential CEQA appeals.

The draft Host City Agreement, submitted to the Board of Supervisors, is available to download by http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2284087/Final%20HCA%2011.9.10.docx!clicking_here, and the proposed Resolution for the Adoption of the Host City Agreement by the Board of Supervisors can be seen by http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2284087/AC%20HCA%20Resolution%20Final.doc!clicking_here