About the America's Cup

The America's Cup is the 3rd largest sporting event in the world behind World Cup soccer and the Olympics. It is also the world's oldest ongoing sports trophy.

This is the first time that America's Cup will be visible from land. The event organizers are committed to growing their audience by turning this into a tv spectacular. Stan Honey -- the man who brought the world football's first down line -- is utilizing cutting edge GPS and communication technology to make it exciting to watch even if you've never watched sailing in your life.

For those of us in the San Francisco Bay Area, this will be a lot like Fleet Week, with free areas and optional premium areas to watch the races. Fleet Week brings 1.5 million people over the course of a weekend.

Recent History

Larry Ellison's BMW-Oracle team won the 33rd America's Cup off the coast of Spain in early 2010.

World Series - Summer 2012

The America's Cup World Series -- raced with AC45's -- has already been going on. It's like a traveling carnival where everything gets packed away into containers and then sent to the next venue.

Expected to bring in 1.45 million people over the course of 3 weeks.

The Main Event - Summer 2013

AC72 boats will be racing and using a larger race area than with the AC45's.

Challenger Cup runs 4th of July through September 1.

The main event begins September 7 and can go as late as September 22. It's a best-of-9 so it will end earlier with a sweep. It is expected to bring in 5.5 million people with as many as 0.5 million on a peak (sunny weekend) day.

Visit our special section: >> How to watch America's Cup

The Future

If Oracle's U.S.A. team wins, they will again choose the race venue for the 35th America's Cup. So it could wind up here again. Even if they don't win, San Francisco Bay is bound to hold more events like this.