KEY POINTS:
Renowned New Zealand yacht designer Bruce Farr would like to see a more exciting and faster America's Cup boat - and one where there are more design options.
Three-time winner Russell Coutts also believes it is time for the boats to change and is interested in the idea of a two-year cycle.
Emirates Team New Zealand have bandied about the idea of bringing back the nationality rules.
Before this America's Cup has even been sailed discussion has begun on the next one.
Unlike most sports, the winner of the America's Cup find themselves in a unique position.
Provided they have a challenger of record they can decide not only the timing and location of the next event they can also decide the type of boats.
The general feeling is that, if Alinghi defend the cup this year the yachts will remain more or less the same, the next event will be in two years' time - possibly, but not definitely, in Valencia.
If Alinghi lose the cup, the future of the world's oldest sporting trophy becomes uncertain.
Changing the boats has been debated for some time now. The current class of boat was introduced in 1992 after the mismatch between the New Zealand Challenge's big boat and Dennis Conner's catamaran.
Design rules have been altered slightly, but to most spectators the 18 boats that have been built for this cup look strikingly similar.
As round-the-world race boats sport canting keels and multihulls are now the most cutting-edge sailing boats technologically - the cup boats are no longer the biggest show in town.
But radically changing the boats would come at a cost. It would mean the 100 cup boats built since 1992 would become obsolete, throwing away a tremendous amount of knowledge and time. It is also unclear what effect a significant change would have on the teams. Would it encourage more to enter or more to drop out?
Farr, part of BMW Oracle Racing's design team, can see both sides.
"On a personal level, I would like to see a more exciting and faster boat style and one where there are more design options - perhaps more design space as that is more interesting and more challenging," he said. "However, there is a big investment in these boats and a radical change might make it hard to maintain as many players."
Farr would like to see yachts with much lighter displacement and more sail area which would encourage more beam and form stability in the boats and perhaps lead to more interesting performance differences.
"The modern cup boats are all so close in performance that the boat issues almost become inconsequential and boring alongside the differences in the way the boats are sailed."
He suspects, however, that most will be against a radical change at the end of this cup.
"The only explanation that I can think of to retain the existing class is to protect the investment of the existing competitors in the belief that it makes for a better or bigger contest next time around.
"Usually it is obvious when a class is past its use-by date, as was the case to many when the 12-meters were retired, and I think we are close to that now with the present class.
"If the next cycle is a short one of two or so years it would be tougher to make a big change.
"A major change would be easier if it could somehow be decided during a cup cycle rather than after, giving more time to be ready."
Changing the cup cycle from the traditional three, four or five years to two has also been discussed in the past. A major advantage of a two-year cycle is that it would reduce teams' costs.
New Zealander David Barnes, who was the general manager of Great Britain's GBR Challenge in the last cup, said he felt two years was too short but five years was too long.
"It takes a long time to build boats and organise teams," Barnes said. "It will lose some importance if you hold it every two years. That is why the Olympics and rugby World Cup and that sort of thing are four years... it makes it all the more prestigious."
Alinghi, boasting more than a dozen nationalities, won the cup in 2003. One of the first things they did was abolish the nationality rule. Up until then team members had to reside in the country of the syndicate they represented. This meant the likes of Brad Butterworth and co had to rent homes in Switzerland in order to meet the nationality criteria.
If Team New Zealand were to win back the cup, reverting to the nationality rule would be in their best interests as it would make life more difficult for their heavyweight opponents Alinghi and Oracle.
However, it would make it difficult for new countries without extensive sailing backgrounds. In this cup, China, competing for the first time, hired a number of experienced French sailors to help them get going.
The question then becomes: does the cup necessarily need more countries competing so that it remains the pinnacle of the sport alongside the Olympics?
The brutally honest would admit that, while it is nice to have the likes of China, Germany and South Africa competing, realistically they are wasting a lot of money.
One aspect of this cup which will almost definitely be retained is the the pre-regattas.
America's Cup veteran Tom Ehman (who is Oracle's rules and external affairs adviser) has even suggested that next time round the pre-regattas should take the place of all, or part of, the Louis Vuitton Cup with possibly only the America's Cup match itself, or possibly the Louis Vuitton Cup finals and semifinals, being held at the cup venue.
After all, according to Oracle's chief executive Chris Dickson racing is what the teams love to do best.
"Let's do more of it," Dickson said. "As far as changing the boats, we need to consider that carefully.
"The America's Cup has continued to evolve since its inception in 1851 and the heritage of this event for the oldest sporting trophy is priceless. At the same time is it must continue to evolve to remain one of the pre-eminent events in world sport."