The Spanish newspaper, ABC, reported on Thursday that the America's Cup will be held in Valencia in 2010.

Pedro Sardina, a veteran in Spanish sailing journalism, claimed in an article in Thursday's ABC (Spain's second largest newspaper) that Brad Butterwoth and Russell Coutts had met to reach an agreement concerning the running of the 33rd America's Cup and avoid the court case set for later this month.

If there are no other upsets, this agreement will be announced in the next couple of days, in order to avoid a court ruling that could harm both parties. The article claimed that Oracle know that the Swiss have already been working on a new boat and that this is a disadvantage to the challengers.

This was the real reason for the delay being necessary, to allow the challengers time to catch up. Any other reasons, such as the continuing disagreement between the local and national governments is considered as a smokescreen for the delay.

Also 2010 is considered compatible with the wish of Bertarelli to hold the following Cup in the Arab Emirates in 2011, if he was to win again. In line with this, Dubai is considered to be a favourite for one of the 'Acts' in the next event.

The main concessions appear to be:

- Desafío Español will remain the Challenger of Record and BMW Oracle will abandon any ambition to substitute the Spanish team.

- The proposed 90-foot boat will not be abandoned and will be the yacht the 33rd America's Cup will be raced with.

- The America's Cup will be postponed till 2010. This will give the challengers an additional year to work on the new boat and try to reduce Alinghi's advantage.