“There are many options for Barcelona to repeat hosting the Copa America.”

Vice President of the America’s Cup confirms that “if Barcelona wants, Barcelona can”

Barcelona, ​​October 14 (Europe Press) –

ACE Barcelona’s vice-president of Copa América events, Aurora Cata, believes there are “many more options” than it might seem for Barcelona to repeat as host of the Copa America, which will host its 37th edition in 2024 along with the Copa América. It is expected to be an “absolute success” and all the logistics will already be in place within a year for the regatta to claim the title being defended by Emirates Team New Zealand.

There are “much more options than people think” for Barcelona “to repeat as host of the Copa America,” Aurora Cata – No. 2 of the 37th Copa América in Barcelona 2024 – confirmed in an interview with Europa Press. In short, “If Barcelona wants, Barcelona can.”

“First of all, I’m going to compete. Team New Zealand is the only team that has a 50% chance of winning, because they’re the only team that goes straight to the final, and they’ve said that publicly, and other things. The difference, too, is that they’ll seriously consider repeating Barcelona as a place.

Hence, Barcelona has the “first place”, if the city and the rest of the institutions want to host the 38th edition also in 2028. “It is difficult for me to think what could happen so that Barcelona does not repeat itself. It could happen what Barcelona does not want, but I I don’t see that… Indeed, we have faced, I insist, as an organization of an event of this dimension, positions to fix everything with will, advocacy and complicity, from everyone around the world,” Kata celebrated.

“From the beginning, there has been collusion of institutions at all levels, of all colours, for a common project for all that will put Barcelona back as a city and as a society on the international map. We have found a solution for everything and we will continue. I say, as friends like the first day, it is really difficult to repeat that” .

For all this, Aurora Cata was more than clear: “If Barcelona, ​​if Catalonia, Spain and the whole entity wants to repeat it, can it be repeated? Yes, I always say ‘if Barcelona will leave’. That means, if Barcelona wants, Barcelona can that”.

Reasons for repetition in Barcelona? Well, it is an “exceptional and incomparable” city. “There are great cities, but they cannot be compared. If things go as they should, we hope it will be successful. Could there be another Copa America in Barcelona? Yes, obviously. And we will also play with a big advantage because we have already done it once.” ” Contribute in this sense.

“Here in Barcelona, ​​all the infrastructure is there. If the event has good participation and everyone enjoys it as well, then these are clear positives. But there may be offers and cities that come up with other proposals that are really interesting. But isn’t it? In this sense, the Vice President of Copa America Barcelona explained : “Now we don’t have anything. Not even Barcelona, ​​which will have to submit a nomination again and make it official.”

One year, everything is ready

On the other hand, there is less than a year to go until the 37th America’s Cup, the final race of the title race, kicks off on October 12, 2024. “We are counting down and every day we get closer to this ‘deadline’ it gets faster,” Catta admitted. Everything is larger, and everything takes on greater dimensions and body.”

“We have been working for several months, since March 2022, preparing to lay the foundations of everything that an event of this dimension would mean, and now we are in the final implementation, in visualizing everything that will be proposed. On a logistical level everything has been completed.”

In fact, since last April, all teams – New Zealand, Switzerland, France, USA, Great Britain and Italy – have begun training daily in Barcelona’s waters. “You can see the AC75 flying boats, the Formula 1 ones at sea, training in the port of Barcelona every day, and the truth is that this in itself is already a spectacle,” he said.

A major logistical exercise for the organization, as it was able to have all team members in Barcelona more than a year before the start of the competition. “We are talking about about 150 people with their families in each team, so if we look for accommodation and schools because we are talking about up to 600 children who have already gone to school, that whole part is there as well,” he said.

Of course, there is something that cannot be controlled, not even the CEO of the competition, the captain of the New Zealand “Defender” Emirates Team, Grant Dalton. “What can’t we control? What can’t we control? What can’t we do? The weather, where the wind’s not blowing on the day of the last regatta or it’s the day of a lightning storm, like it happened at Villanova (in the first preliminary regatta ). The hardest thing is fighting against the elements. But that’s cruising,” he admitted.

US Open Cup against Barcelona

Undoubtedly one of the values ​​and convictions of Team New Zealand, as organizer of the America’s Cup, is that the competition is an event “completely open to all citizens” of Barcelona, ​​which as a city “helps a lot” to a coast that is gaining depth very quickly.

“The regatta could be very close to the shores. It will be easy to watch it live and follow all the audio-visual support that will be provided on the screens and on the mobile phones or tablets themselves. Our TV signal will be augmented reality and integrated, which is what it does is take all the data from Every ship – which has many sensors – is sending a lot of information, and as a result that’s what allows us to know the course, the speed, who’s in front of us, and who’s in front of us. Everything is “drawn on top of reality,” explained Aurora Cata. “It will make regattas very understandable.”

Additionally, it was announced to Europe Press that the 2024 Copa America in Barcelona will feature a unique video game. “We will create an ‘e-game’, which will also be presented in Barcelona, ​​with which, let’s say, we cooperate. The entire profile of Barcelona will be integrated into the game, which is one of the other important novelties,” he said. “I think there has not been an e-game dedicated to the release of Certain at all.