"The cup left Europe in 1851 and it has never come back. If it does, I am sure the cup will become a bigger event", Bruno Troublé said just before Team Alinghi's America's Cup victory in Auckland in March 2003. "We will reach another level in terms of owners, media coverage and interest."

For most of its history, the America's Cup has been anything but a profit center. Snooty traditionalists banned most forms of advertising until 1988.

Since then a variety of sponsors have poured millions of dollars into the event only to walk away, frustrated by disorganization, erratic television coverage and the constant threat that the boat they back won't even survive.

This time it will be different. As a sponsorship vehicle, Cup racing already has big advantages over many sports: Companies can use the boats as floating billboards--technology and teamwork are the main messages--but they can also take customers and employees out for spins.

Most important, all the details, from television contracts to license fees for America's Cup logo T shirts, will be handled by AC Management, a company Bertarelli formed to manage the Cup.

The man overseeing this sea change is Michel Bonnefous, a school chum of Bertarelli's who still climbs mountains with the billionaire and skims across Lake Geneva on his powerful 12-meter catamaran.

The rule of nationality or residence, applied to the sailors and the designers, was cause for debate during the last America's Cup.

From now on this rule shall be repealed. Has the ax fallen on tradition? Not truly - we have often heard used as an example the story of Charlie Barr. His Scandinavian crew possessed nothing of anglo-saxon origins, except for the language spoken onboard.

However, the Protocol does anticipate certain restrictions. A team member who sails with one challenger during the 18 months preceding the start of the competition - whatever the type of race - cannot take afterwards a position with another challenger.

With regard to the designers, they cannot change syndicates after signing a contract with one of the competitors.

One of the main innovations of the 32nd Cup resides in the fact that a veto has been levied on the rule regarding the transfer of technology. In effect, up until the last America's Cup, a Challenger was able to purchase a boat but could not access the plans, nor the information relating to its performance.

Yes, the team could see that a boat performed well in certain conditions, but the design teams had to spend long hours trying to figure out "why" the boat performed the way it did. Therefore, the developments were done almost blindly.

As such, the designers held a tool in their hands, but they did so without knowing what the boat's limits were, which resulted in breakage during training as well as sagas in the jury room.

Nevertheless, the task will remain to determine who, whether it is the Challenger or the architectural advisor, has the right to sell these documents.

Concerning the origin of the boat, the rules have relaxed as well.

The previous Protocol specified that the boat, as well as its components, had to be built in the Challenger's country of origin. Now, we know that the transportation of the boats is being done in "detachable pieces," delivered to the competition venue, including with the cost implications of transporting a 25-tonnes bulb!

From now on, only the boat's hull is required to have a "certificate of origin." The other components of the boat can be built on site, at the location of the competition, or in the country chosen by the competitor.

In the next parts, Alinghi will outline what new economic and commercial forms and the structural modifications in the organisation of the competition.