The process of modernization of the America's Cup initiated by ACM is just a first step.

For most of its history, Cup followers have complained about the antiquated format of the regatta imposed by snooty traditionalists (who banned most forms of advertising until 1988) and the problems it creates.

After winning the title of "Defender", Alinghi acquired the weighty privilege of organising the 32e edition of the competition and announced a complete overhaul.

At the end of the last year before the competition, it's undeniable that Alinghi's Ernesto Bertarelli (greatly helped by BMW Oracle's Larry Ellison) change the rules on a grand scale, making the Cup better organized and more appealing to commercial sponsors, TV and the general public.

Ellison and Bertarelli make it more TV-friendly by shortening races - which can be two-hour snoozefests if one boat gets a big lead - and better explaining a sport that can be confusing, elitist and at times, boring.

Moreover, the collaboration between Alinghi as defender and BMW Oracle as challenger of record produced the so-called "Acts," the novel but tremendously-popular demonstration regattas of the last two years. The 12 Acts to date attracted more than 1.5 million people.

If the Cup traditionalists are already scandalized, they must actively prepare themselves for hard days. It's now clear that the process of modernization initiated for the 32e Cup should be extended for the next edition and another step should be taken to increase potential of the event.

During the Allianz Cup, Larry Ellison went public with thoughts that are buzzing among all the Cup teams that will be racing in 2007.

Power players at Alinghi and other camps too are thinking along the same lines as Ellison, who said that he'd like to see Cup racing, "follow more closely what they do in Formula 1; we’d have a regatta in Cup boats in San Francisco every year, one in Newport, one in Germany, one in Italy; regattas that people and sponsors could count on, to have some regularity."

That's a merely-for-example list of venues but one thing is for certain: the next challenger-selection racing will go on-circuit instead, setting sail in Europe, the USA, the Middle East, and Asia in nail-biting eliminations leading to a final showdown among a few survivors .

This next evolution doesn't ride on a BMW Oracle win. It's riding a wave that ripples for many years

"The United States is obviously a very important market for the sponsors and also a very important market in terms of sports", Bertarelli said in September 2003 in a premonitory vision. "Any successful sport has a very strong foothold in America so we will try to balance our presence between Europe and the US".

Ernesto Bertarelli, clearly, has a similar outlook on how to structure the competiton. The Acts have proved that America's Cup racing is a viable roadshow. Should Alinghi successfully defend, we might expect to see Vuitton Cup racing launched on an international circuit, including American ports, for serious points, with lesser teams eliminated on the road.

"This is not a new idea coming just from BMW Oracle", explained Mascalzone's Cameron Dunn. "The Acts in Malmo and Trapani showed how it could be run and it's had widespread support for a couple of years".

"Why not take the Cup fleet all over the world?", he added. "Racing needs to be continuous, rolling on from season to season, so the sponsors know what they are getting into, and teams can make long term plans. Costs could run high, so maybe they limit training time, as they do in some forms of motor racing. Bring on the changes."

Without knowing the opinion of others teams, We have to wait for a very different 33e America's Cup.