The first Challenger of Record for the 34th Cup was Club Nautico di Roma, and a joint press conference was held on May 6, 2010, to plan for the event.

[7] In order to increase global awareness and hence attract sponsors for the teams an America's Cup World Series was held over the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons.

The smaller scaled down AC45 version of the AC72 with similar characteristics to the AC72 enables younger competition sailors to master the techniques used to sail this style of catamaran before they progress to the AC72 boats.

[12] The winning team included Peter Burling, Blair Tuke, Jono Spurdle, Sam Meech, Andy Maloney, Jason Saunders and Guy Endean.

[17] Oracle Team USA confirmed that San Diego, Newport[18] and Long Beach were considered earlier as possible venues for this event.

A key parameter in deciding the venue was reliability of the wind and weather patterns so that pre-published television schedules would be virtually guaranteed to show racing rather than suffering endless postponements which was a significant problem for TV audiences watching the 2010 America's Cup.

[27] Luna Rossa, a late entry, formed a partnership with Team New Zealand where they would share design and testing information.

[27] The course for the 34th America's Cup was specially designed to take advantage of the San Francisco Bay, to bring the racing within easy viewing of the shore for the first time.

An international jury found Oracle Team USA guilty of cheating during the America's Cup World Series warmup event in 2012 when they placed bags of lead pellets in their 45-foot catamarans to add additional weight outside of allowed areas.

[47] Race two began as the previous one ended, with Team New Zealand in front, despite the aggressive prestart by Oracle's skipper Jimmy Spithill.

A top mark delta of 1:17 effectively ended the race, and gave Spithill plenty of time to consider his options.

John Kostecki, who had raced on San Francisco Bay for decades, was dropped, and Sir Ben Ainslie, the skipper of Oracle's backup boat was brought on in his place.

After a run of being behind at the start, Barker was strong in the windward position off the line and was able to beat Oracle Team USA by a substantial amount at the reach mark.

Spithill again won the start, and extended the lead at every mark including for the first time, a notable gain against the Kiwi boat on the upwind leg.

[61][62] Barker looked to have been left behind by Spithill at the startline, but just managed to hold an overlap as the AC72s entered the three boat length circle at the reach mark.

Team New Zealand were able to accelerate away leaving Oracle almost stationary in the water on the sprint to the finish line, taking the score to 1–8.

The boats made their way back to the starting area, but the wind and the strong outgoing tide combined to confirm the postponement of racing for the day.

The New Zealand boat continued to extend their lead during the third leg and the main concern turned to whether they would be able to cross the finish line within the 40 minute race limit.

With the boats still close heading into the leeward gate, Barker fluffed his lines, and Aotearoa ended up being forced to jibe twice in quick succession.

A huge downwind leg from the American boat saw them round the leeward gate 1 minute ahead of Team New Zealand.

Team New Zealand did not give up, and were able to cut Oracle's lead in half by the windward gate, but were unable to make up the rest of the gap.

Oracle sailed conservatively downwind gaining a 21-second lead for the fourth mark, which they extended to 33 seconds by finish line.

Spithill called this win "very impressive" and said, "It gives us a lot of confidence going into tomorrow", saying that Wednesday will be "the most exciting day in the history of our lives.

[93] Team New Zealand had port entry advantage, and were able to convert this into the leeward position at the start line and a lead around the reach mark.

Team New Zealand and Barker refused to give up, but in the absence of any mistakes from Oracle, they confirmed their victory 9–8 by 44 seconds on the line to the cheers of the crowd.

On May 9, 2013, Swedish team Artemis' first AC72 yacht flipped, resulting in the death of Olympic gold medalist Andrew James Simpson.

The NBC Sports Group acquired the American television broadcast rights in 2012, making it the first time the race would be on network TV since 1992.

Race yachts carried military grade GPS tracking and telemetry systems to enhance the accuracy of measurements.

Only moments after the win by Oracle Team USA, Hamilton Island Yacht Club in Queensland, Australia issued a challenge for the 2017 America's Cup.

[105][106][107] Australian billionaire Bob Oatley was said to be financially backing the Hamilton Island Yacht Club as the Challenger of Record.