★ America's Cup

01Pourquoi c'est important

This is the oldest trophy in international sport still competed for, older than the modern Olympics, and its idiosyncratic format — no permanent home, no fixed calendar, rules rewritten by the winner each time — has made it as much a study in yacht-club politics and engineering one-upmanship as a race. Boats built for a Cup cycle are effectively one-off research projects, with teams typically spending well over $100 million and, in at least one recent cycle, reportedly closer to $300 million, most of which goes toward foiling and hydraulic technology unlike anything else in sailing.

In our reading, the 2027 Naples edition matters specifically because it breaks two patterns at once: it is the Cup's first visit to Italy, a country with a deep amateur and industrial sailing culture but no history of hosting the event, and it follows Barcelona's turn as host, continuing a run of Mediterranean cities using the Cup deliberately as a tool of waterfront redevelopment and international visibility rather than simply as a sporting fixture.

02La semaine environnante

A Preliminary Regatta such as Naples's September 2026 event brings a compressed, four-day version of the Cup's atmosphere: team bases, a public race village and grandstands along the waterfront, and AC40 fleet racing close enough inshore to watch without a boat of one's own. The Match itself, when it arrives in July 2027, will be a considerably longer occupation of the host city, with team bases established months ahead and a public programme building through the Challenger Selection Series before the Match races themselves.

03Quand arriver

For the 2026 Naples Preliminary Regatta, the Friday and Saturday carry the bulk of the fleet racing, with Sunday's finals the natural climax. For the 2027 Match, arriving for the scheduled start of racing on 10 July gives the best chance of seeing the opening races, though the Match can conclude earlier or later than 17-18 July depending on how the racing goes.

04Où séjourner

Naples itself, along the waterfront near Mergellina and the Lungomare Caracciolo, is the natural base for both the 2026 regatta and the 2027 Match, putting visitors within walking distance of the team bases and race village; the wider Bay of Naples, including Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, offers a scenic but more distant alternative reached by ferry or road.

05Accès et hospitalité

Racing is contested by invited or qualifying teams under the Protocol negotiated for each cycle; there is no ticket for entering the competition itself. Spectating from public waterfront areas is generally free, while grandstand seating, team-hospitality pavilions and premium viewing areas are sold separately by the organizer and by individual teams; none of those prices are quoted here.

06Où se déroule l'activité sociale

The team bases along the host waterfront, each with its own public-facing pavilion and merchandise operation, are the event's visible social center, alongside the race village's bars, food stalls and big screens. The host city's own waterfront promenade — in Naples, the Lungomare Caracciolo — becomes the default free vantage point for anyone without a grandstand ticket.

07Comment s'y rendre

08Informations pratiques

09Historique

The schooner America's win in a race around the Isle of Wight in 1851 produced the trophy that gives the event its name, and the New York Yacht Club defended it for 132 consecutive years — from 1857 to 1983 — the longest winning streak in the history of organized sport, before Australia II, representing the Royal Perth Yacht Club, broke it with a controversial winged keel. The Cup has moved widely since: Fremantle in 1987, San Diego through the 1990s, Auckland for New Zealand's turns as Defender, Valencia and San Francisco in the 2000s and 2010s, then Bermuda in 2017, where Emirates Team New Zealand took the trophy back, Auckland again in 2021, and Barcelona in 2024, where Emirates Team New Zealand defended successfully against Britain's INEOS Britannia, seven races to two. Naples in 2027 continues the recent pattern of contested, publicly negotiated venue selection, in which cities bid to host much as they would an Olympic sailing regatta.

10Qui s'y trouve

Sailing teams' principals, sponsors and technical staff; a large corporate hospitality contingent tied to team and Cup sponsors; national sailing federations and Olympic sailing programmes, which supply much of the sport's professional talent pool; specialist and mainstream sports media; and a large general public in the host city and beyond, drawn by free waterfront viewing and the spectacle of foiling boats at speed.