Newport loses race to host America’s Cup, San Francisco only U.S. city left

(Updated, 12:45 p.m.)

PROVIDENCE – Although Newport no longer is in the running to host the 34th America’s Cup, the City by the Sea and the state could still realize economic benefits on a worldwide scale if preliminary run-off races are held in Rhode Island.

Keith W. Stokes, executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, said he spoke this morning to Russell Coutts, CEO of the BMW Oracle racing syndicate, who told him that Newport is definitely a contender to host about a half-dozen trial races, which could begin as soon as next year and extend into 2012 and 2013.

Coutts called Newport “a top priority” for the preliminary contests, Stokes said. Coutts and other members of the BMW Oracle team visited Newport last week.

“We haven’t lost anything,” Stokes maintained this morning. The America’s Cup is one of the three largest sporting events in the world, behind the World Cup soccer matches and the Olympic games, Stokes noted. Like those other events, preliminary contests for the America’s Cup can generate as much excitement as the main event and nearly as much in economic benefits, he suggested.

Stokes today declined to offer an estimate on the amount of economic activity generated by run-off races. But, he said, he sees the state as a full-fledged participant in the America’s Cup challenge even if only preliminary races are held here. He pointed to the preliminary matches taking place in the ongoing World Cup competition as an example of the scale of the America’s Cup preliminaries.

The state’s larger goal – even more than hosting the America’s Cup – is to see Newport once again recognized as a world-class racing and yachting center, Stokes said. Infrastructure improvements at Fort Adams and other Newport sites to host the America’s Cup run-offs are a major step toward reaching that goal, Stokes suggested, and would be in place for future racing events.

Details of those infrastructure improvements will be finalized in the coming months. Stokes insisted that the City by the Sea and the infrastructure work will be ready for a race as early as 2011. He said state and city officials have fully informed Coutts of their infrastructure improvement plans.

San Francisco and its Golden Gate Yacht Club is now the only city in the nation under consideration to host the next America’s Cup, the BMW Oracle syndicate announced this morning. As the winner of the last Cup race, BMW Oracle is in charge of choosing the site of the next race, which officials say will be held in 2013 or 2014, depending on the status of infrastructure improvements.

Larry Ellison, owner of the Oracle, had said in February, after his team won the Cup in Spain, that Newport, San Diego and San Francisco were the three American sites under active consideration for the next match. Newport, home of the New York Yacht Club, hosted the race from 1930 through 1983, the longest time of any single locale.

“While we are disappointed to learn that Newport is no longer under consideration to be the host city for the final America’s Cup race, we are confident that we will ultimately play an important role as a venue for the challenger races,” Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said in a statement released today.

In addition to San Francisco, at least two European cities are under consideration to host the next Cup finals, BMW Oracle representatives said today, without identifying the cities. A final decision is expected by the end of the year. Brad Read, executive director of Sail Newport, said his group now stands ready to help San Francisco win the race. “We stand by to help in any way to promote San Francisco over any foreign port,” he said.