On the 2nd of March, 2003, the 31st America's Cup was won by Team Alinghi, on behalf of the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG). Within days of the victory, the SNG and Alinghi (along with the Challenger of Record, the Golden Gate Yacht Club) announced the creation of AC Management, an independent company with the mandate to run the 32nd America’s Cup from an organisational and commercial point of view.

This is a revolutionary step in the context of modern America’s Cup history. Previously, the America’s Cup Match would be organised by the defending yacht club, while the Challenger of Record would set up a selection series, the Louis Vuitton Cup, with the other challengers to determine who would race the Defender in the Match. The two events were usually completely independent, resulting in duplicated effort, and at times, frustration or confusion for partners, participants, and spectators alike.

For this next edition of the America’s Cup, AC Management has been given an unique opportunity to evolve the event through full-time, professional management. AC Management is the event organising authority for the 32nd America’s Cup, and has the following Mission Statement:

"By leveraging the unique heritage of the America's Cup, we want to work in partnership with the participants, the host venue, the sponsors and the media, to build an outstanding and innovative event aimed at sharing the Cup's appeal, values and emotion with the general public."

Michel Bonnefous is the CEO of AC Management:
"Our vision is to make a bigger event, to run over a longer period allowing the partners to get a better, earlier and more regular return for their investments. We are the fortunate ones at AC Management to have been given this exciting opportunity, and now we must step up to this incredible challenge and help write the next chapter of America’s Cup."

Since its inception, AC Management has been very busy. Its first major task was to manage the process that saw Valencia, Spain selected as the Host City of the 32nd America’s Cup.

Being in Europe puts the America’s Cup competition within a two-hour flight of more than 300 million people. The European time zone and the relentless pace of technology will allow AC Management and its partners to put on a show in a new and hungry environment that until now has not been feasible.

The Protocol for the 32nd America’s Cup calls for a series of regattas in each of the years leading up to the America’s Cup Match in 2007. These pre-regattas will unfold as Acts in a play, each building on the one before, the story advancing with each successive event, until the denouement of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection series, and the America’s Cup Match itself.

AC Management is a highly motivated, international group, with the ability to operate in several languages. Its office in Valencia opened in May 2004, and by July, the growing team at AC Management numbered in excess of 50 people. By 2007 AC Management will be a team of nearly 130 people, not including volunteers, suppliers, and contractors.