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The Detail is a daily news podcast produced for RNZ for Press room and is posted on Stuff with permission. Click on this link to subscribe to the podcast.
The Auld Mug is from New Zealand for now, but the event and the winning team are already facing new dangers, with the fight to bring the next race to shore and wealthy foreign competitors staring at our top talents.
Today The detail speaks to America’s Cup expert journalists Suzanne McFadden from Newsroom and Things Todd Niall on the race against time and money to keep the event here and keep the kiwi sailors.
“The next event starts today,” says McFadden. “All the planning goes from day one. Part of Team New Zealand’s success in this regatta is the day they returned home from Bermuda, they already had a plan and they knew where they were going ”.
RICKY WILSON / Stuff
The New Zealand team edged out Luna Rossa in an epic ninth race in the America’s Cup.
As a second-time defender, most of the grassroots work is done, she says. The New Zealand team does not have to create a new boat, it is expected to keep the monohull with AC75 foiling. Defender and challenger, confirmed as Team UK, will now work together at the next event. But little else is certain, and it could be months before the location and composition of the New Zealand team is known.
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“The sailors are going to go now and do other things. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are now out for the next eight months, sailing Sir Russell Coutts’ SailGP circuit and of course they have an Olympic campaign, if that goes ahead, ”says McFadden.
Niall describes it as a “precarious moment” for the New Zealand team because the sailors’ contracts end when the season ends.
“It has returned to zero, which is a dangerous moment for a successful team because they have to retain key personnel. Anyone who wants to get into the game will be looking around, who can we recruit?
“That’s the period when a team like Team New Zealand will need to have money from somewhere to retain the top people and talent they need to go on and put on another successful event.”
Niall thinks that the negotiations have already started, “people talk on the phone with this or that person, saying, let’s talk.”
The government has offered $ 5 million for the New Zealand team to keep the team together, but will only receive the money if the race takes place in New Zealand. The government also wants to know who will get the money, such as designers, engineers and sailors.
The $ 5 million offer is separate from the negotiations to keep the race. This time, the government contributed $ 40 million to host this event, but Niall says it may not be enough next time.
“You wonder how the New Zealand team is talking about the need to get a lodging fee big enough to spread out and help support the team.”
The level of interest expressed from abroad in hosting the event is also unknown, but there are rumors that China and Dubai are good bidders. The deadline for formal offers was late February, and McFadden believes China will be a strong competitor.
“In China now they are really starting to get into shipping and obviously they have the money to invest in the infrastructure that you would need. I’ve heard of them building entire marinas and building cities around those ports now. “
Niall explains to The details Sharon Brettkelly the rules around bidding and why the Auckland government and council have three months to negotiate with Team New Zealand “in good faith” before other bidders enter the game. But, he says, the highest bidder may not get the hosting rights.
“I don’t think it just comes down to dollars.”
