As San Francisco faces a Friday deadline to finalize a host deal for the 2013 America’s Cup, event officials are talking to Newport, Rhode Island, about once again hosting the famed yachting regatta.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club told San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in a letter that the city will lose the chance to host the 2013 America’s Cup unless a deal is in place by Friday.
The city supervisors board’s budget and finance committee has endorsed an agreement to host the event and the board is set to vote upon it Tuesday.
Tom Ehman, an official of the yacht club, described Newport as “an inexpensive and very, very good” alternative if San Francisco officials decide not to spend the money to complete the deal.
Newport hosted the event, which began in 1851, 13 times from 1930 to 1983. A US boat won the first regatta and US boats made 25 consecutive defenses until John Bertrand skippered Australia II past Dennis Conner’s Liberty in 1983.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club has also had a bid proposal from Italy.
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