KEY POINTS:
VALENCIA - The 32nd America's Cup will end with a profit of more than 30 million euros ($53 million) that will be shared out between the 12 participating teams, organising body ACM said on Friday.
When Swiss syndicate Alinghi won the America's Cup in 2003, they set up ACM to raise funds -- including from media rights and sponsorship -- and organise the racing.
ACM raised a budget of about 250 million euros, 10 times the amount spent on the 2003 America's Cup in Auckland, although some purists and sponsors have criticised them for focusing more on money than on the Cup's 156-year-old tradition.
Under the protocol, ACM will split any leftover cash between the teams -- 50 per cent to Alinghi and the other 50 per cent divided between the challengers with those who got the furthest in the Louis Vuitton Cup getting the most.
"We've got around 30 million euros and may have a bit more than that to give back to the teams. First, we need to close the accounts on this edition and that will take some time," said ACM chief executive Michel Bonnefous.
"This is a significant step forward in allowing Cup teams from this cycle to be on a solid financial footing for the 33rd America's Cup," ACM said.
Alinghi president Ernesto Bertarelli has said he wants the America's Cup to fund itself rather than rely on rich backers bankrolling boats.
ACM said the 32nd America's Cup, including pre-Cup regattas that were raced around Europe since 2004, had been the biggest Cup ever with more than six million people visiting the events and four billion people watching the racing on television.
- REUTERS
