With the deadline for entries for the next America's Cup now passed, few questions have been answered about the shape for the next regatta, writes Greg Pearson of 3 News in New Zealand.
The challengers will be revealed early next month, but that group may hold the key to one of the biggest mysteries for the 35th edition of the Cup: the venue.
So far only Emirates Team New Zealand have publicly stated they've submitting a challenge, but it's expected Luna Rossa, Artemis, Ben Ainslie Racing and Team France will also be named with possibly a Russia and Asian based team in the mix.
The unveiling will take place in London, possibly because it's a more convenient location for a group largely made of European teams, but it could be an indication that defenders Oracle Team USA are looking to Europe as the target audience.
Oracle boss Sir Russell Coutts has made no secret of his desire to turn the Cup into a commercially viable event.
The raft of changes made to the 34th Cup was an attempt to do that but the regatta in San Francisco was would have to be described as a failure.
Fourteen teams were accepted to challenge Oracle after they beat Alinghi in 2010, yet only three AC72s lined up in San Francisco last year.
Despite Coutts and Larry Ellison's goal to bring down the escalating costs involved in the event, it proved to be as expensive as ever.
The winged catamarans proved to be spectacular, and though the final score line was as close as could be the actually racing was actually very one sided – the average margin of victory across the 19 races in 2013 was more than 40 seconds versus 23 seconds in 2007.
The vision was to turn the Cup into some kind of NASCAR on water, but the regatta failed to win over the American public.
That's hardly surprising considering the immensely competitive and packed sporting environment.
Media coverage of the event was minimal, with organizers having to buy airtime rather than sell off the rights to screen the coverage.
Interest only picked up as Oracle mounted their comeback to win the Cup and if not for that the whole regatta would have been judged a failure.
For the hosts, the Cup left a large hole in San Francisco's coffers despite promises to bring hundreds of millions into the region.
Compare that to the net surplus of $130 million from the last multi-challenger event in Valencia in 2007, a total that was split between the organizers and the teams.
Emirates Team New Zealand's cut for reaching the Cup match against Alinghi was $18 million.
San Francisco doesn't have to worry about shouldering that financial burden again, the city has already been ruled out for a host despite being the home of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the holders of the Cup.
Instead the next regatta will be in either San Diego or Bermuda.
If Oracle want to chase the money, the best option is likely to be Bermuda, with the Atlantic territory providing a window to the more lucrative Europe audience.
If at least four of the challengers are European, Bermuda sits in a friendlier time zone than the west coast of the United States.
If the schedule follows the same format as San Francisco, 1pm and 2pm start times in Bermuda would be 5pm and 6pm in London as opposed to 9pm and 10pm for the same start times in San Diego.
It's unlikely the new Protocol has made any real difference to how Americans will perceive the Cup, making it as hard to sell as ever to break into the market there.
Add Bermuda's much friendlier tax breaks and it becomes a much more appealing venue for Oracle, and a much easier host to turn the event into a money maker.
