Friday's news came as a surprise to many. The America's Cup management announced that the five bidders who would like to organise the 2007 Cup would be reduced by one to four.
Palma de Mallorca, of all places, has to drop out. The Balearic metropolis had been the presumed favourite alongside Lisbon.
Little is known about the reasons. Marcus Hutchinson from AC Management points out that it was important for his team to have only one city per country in the pot for the final phase of the decision: Lisbon for Portugal, Marseille for France, Naples for Italy and now Valencia for Spain. Palma therefore lost out to Valencia in the direct competition.
According to Hutchinson, the cramped conditions in Palma are a problem and the thermal sea breeze is much more constant, stronger and reliable in Valencia. In reality, however, political reasons are likely to have played a major role.
A Majorcan charter base operator describes the situation in the Scuttlebutt Europe internet newsletter as follows: "We are very surprised by this decision. However, Valencia has probably offered more money than Palma. After all, it's all about politics. The Levante region on the east coast of Spain is governed by the ruling PP party. Mallorca, on the other hand, is politically rather unstable. The socialists are gaining strength in the Balearic Islands.
Of course, this is not in the interests of the ruling party. They want to show investments in their party's sphere of influence. In my opinion, the bay of Palma is much better for the America's Cup business, but as a Spaniard I have to keep my fingers crossed for Valencia."
Charly Linnemann, charter operator in Palma, confirms the Spaniard's statements regarding the finances. There is talk behind the scenes that Palma wants to invest 60 million euros, while Valencia wants to invest 100 million. Another seemingly minor disadvantage is the low capacity of the international school in Palma. The children of the America's Cup teams have to be accommodated.
In Valencia, on the other hand, everything is much more spacious. The bay is much larger than that of Plama and allows several teams to train undisturbed. The planned area is an industrial site that is currently undergoing a great deal of investment in its beautification. A new America's Cup harbour would fit in well with the concept.
After the decision against Palma, many insiders now consider Valencia to be the new favourite. AC Management spokesman Hutchinson expects the final decision in mid to late November. The result will be announced at a big ceremony in Geneva.
