The battle for America's Cup, the oldest international sporting trophy, pits the world's most renowned yacht clubs against each other in a series of thrilling races. To win the right to challenge the title defender from New Zealand at the 36th America's Cup, one team must come out on top at the Prada Cup qualifying races in spring 2021.

In a global call for tenders, West4Media and Riedel Communications prevailed in their bid for the production rights to the 36th America's Cup, including the America's Cup World Series and the Prada Cup. Their bid was a 360° concept that combines live TV production and race management systems for live coverage of the yacht racing.

"This production is a tremendous challenge. We approach it with great anticipation, but also with great respect," said Werner Eksler, circle-o MD and co-founder of West4Media . "It is an incredible privilege to have the opportunity to produce the 36th America's Cup."

In order to bring the audience closer to the races than ever before, a team of circle-o developers is already working on new camera solutions, audio technologies and techniques, and real-time visualisations.

"The extreme conditions in sailing present us with many new challenges in sports production," said Thomas Riedel, CEO, Riedel Communications. "Showing a penalty kick in a stadium is a lot easier than capturing the activity onboard monohull sailboats moving at 80 kilometers per hour on the open sea. But that's why I'm all the more excited to embark on this voyage."

"For the first time in the history of America's Cup television coverage, technical innovation and creative content will be interwoven in a way that offers a truly cinematic view of this fascinating event," said Jürgen Eckstein, MD at circle-o. "Audiences can expect to see unconventional approaches and extraordinary vantage points that will make them feel like part of the action."