Abodi: "The Naples waterfront looked like the Maradona Stadium."

Naples – The Cup regattas hadn't even begun yet, yet the Gulf was already packed. Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, a guest on Non Stop News on RTL 102.5 with Enrico Galletti and Giusi Legrenzi, called the success of the America's Cup preliminaries "extraordinary": "Yesterday, the Naples waterfront seemed like a second Maradona, and even more so, because the 100.000 people showed that not only Neapolitans were participating. It was packed with foreigners, too."

The event, Abodi said, has "truly global significance" and shouldn't be seen simply as a sailing competition. "It's a competition that has spanned, and continues to span, three centuries of history. But we want to build a concrete, immediate, positive narrative, with widespread benefits, starting with what we're doing locally."

The minister's assessment of the four days on the Lungomare Caracciolo is two-faced. On the one hand, it's gratifying. On the other, it raises the bar: "Starting next May, we will have to organize something even more meaningful and engaging. And this means a lot from an organizational standpoint, too."

Traveling through the city, Abodi says he saw "happiness in people's eyes, gratitude for what we've already accomplished, for the messages we've sent, and for the initiatives, not necessarily sailing-related, we've organized." In a week, he listed, playgrounds were opened in Naples and the surrounding area, agreements were signed for juvenile detainees, and a return to Caivano was organized, where "for the second time," small boats were brought into the pool: "We gave 300 children the thrill of sailing.

"So many things." The preliminaries ended yesterday. The real show, that of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the Match, is expected in May 2027.