Opinion: Protocol for 38th America’s Cup

When the Protocol for the 38th America’s Cup was revealed, it was said to be “the boldest change in 174 years of the Cup.” Dr. Hamish Ross, who has previously been a legal advisor for America’s Cup teams, and who completed a PhD at the University of Auckland on the legal issues surrounding the America’s Cup, shares his opinion on these changes:

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Voidable
The Protocol is declared to be void unless there is a competitor partnership agreement completed within a few weeks. If this regrettably proves to be the case, what then will the replacement Protocol look like? No one is saying.

The unfinished partnership agreement is the real meat of the sandwich, for which several challengers have been working hard to drag the defender to the table on this. Greater transparency and a fairer distribution of the income generated by the Cup were a feature of the Swiss SNG’s trusteeship for 2007 (and USA’s GGYC’s in 2013), but are missing under the current trusteeship of the RNZYS and TNZ.

It has been said that this document will not be made public. Why not? Secrecy only breeds suspicion.

A prosperous future of the Cup greatly depends on the contents of this missing agreement, lest the Cup, as George Schuyler once warned, “… [the Cup] might as well be laid aside as family plate.”

It’s a proven workable concept; let’s hope for an open, honest return.

AI vs Sailors?
Perhaps the biggest issue for the sport in general is Protocol art 22.1(e);

“Manual power input will not be permitted, except in steering”.

Yes, you read this right. “Not permitted”, which flips RRS 52 on its head. “What has God wrought?” One might ask?

The door is now open for AI to trim sails, trim foils and even steer the yachts. Is this the sport we have all grown up with and love? Are Cup “sailors” to become mere pretty “pin-ups” for media consumption?

It is hard to see machine code and robotics inspiring our young sailors as did our America’s Cup heroes of the past, helping to fill junior sailing programs.

This concern is not limited to the America’s Cup and forms part of our wider societal debate on AI and its potential enormous intrusion into our lives that will make the agricultural, industrial and silicon revolutions look like mere road bumps. How much and should AI intrude into sport in general? The America’s Cup and possibly F1 may well be the harbingers of the future. Imagine Manchester United, Dallas Cowboys or the Yankees comprised of robot players? It would save the owners a fortune in player salaries, but at what cost?

The America’s Cup has lost a massive number of sailing opportunities. In Valencia 2007, there were around 275 sailors, doing what sailors do. In 2027, there will be (assuming only four competitors) a mere 20 or so, largely, it seems, along for the ride. A 92% loss of opportunity. It has been 18 years since we have seen a spinnaker or gennaker launched or taken down in the America’s Cup.

Restrictions
What chance does an existing challenger or a new entrant challenger have of winning the Cup?

To attract challengers, there has to be some meaningful chance to make the investment and effort worthwhile. A chance of winning. Cost savings may seem superficially worthwhile, but who has looked further and asked do they present an obstacle to providing a reasonable opportunity to win?

There are severe restrictions on sailing time, building new yachts and now on budgets. This has the smell of a Protocol that all but guarantees another defender win; if so, it is unworthy. Can one, with complete honesty, explain to a wealthy backer and potential sponsors that a proposed challenge is worth backing against such heavy odds?

Sacrificing all to the pursuit of winning does not make a good basis for rule-making or sound trusteeship.

Changing the Deed of Gift
Let’s be clear, the Deed is not for changing.

The only legal basis to make changes is if the Deed becomes impossible or impractical to perform. We are miles away from this. We have a trustee and a defender who have agreed on a match. Proof enough that the Deed is working and is not broken nor impossible to perform.

Leave the future trustees and challengers to work out their own match terms in their own future contemporary environment. The Deed has worked for 155 years and is the reason why the America’s Cup competition has lasted, while so many other trophies and competitions have been lost during that time.

If you want a different competition or rules, go buy another trophy; just don’t hijack the America’s Cup. Sail GP did so and now, arguably, it is beginning to eclipse the America’s Cup, through both smarter management on one side and lamentable guardianship on the other.

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Details: https://www.americascup.com/

Defender New Zealand and Challenger of Record from Great Britain confirmed the Protocol for the 38th America’s Cup on August 12, 2025. After the 2024 event, Barcelona, Spain declined hosting another edition, with the venue moved to Naples, Italy . Racing will be in the spring and summer of 2027.