What if New Zealanders left New Zealand?

The America’s Cup comes back to talk about it on the economic front. The latest news is that the New Zealand winners of the latest edition have rejected the New Zealand government’s offer of $75 million to keep the next edition in New Zealand. What is behind it? the work! Choosing the venue for the America’s Cup has become a matter of money, a lot of money. There is a precedent. In 2007, after the Swiss Alinghi won the cup, he gave the seat to the highest bidder as a prize. Valencia won Spain.

This is what happened

New Zealand media reported that the advocates had rejected a joint offer of around US$75 million from the New Zealand government and the city of Auckland for the right to remain as the venue for the next challenge. They want more and deal with the venue around the world, without locking up anything.

However, this is likely to be a strategic leak to oversupply. The government and the council have the right to a “first best offer” until mid-June, when everything will be open. But who else would you like to accept?

The New Zealanders are also in financial trouble: what they paid for the last America’s Cup should have been taken back with “two rounds” of the America’s Cup. Then the COVID restrictions left a huge hole in the estimated revenue for the first series that just ended.

There is another development. What happens if Emirates Team NZ accepts the gift deed challenge from Team UK, Team INEOS – and loses? Who will own the rights then? Everything is dark – and it has nothing to do with sailing.

But why is it possible to move the regatta seat away from the country defending the world’s oldest sports trophy? We owe it to Alinghi, who won the cup in 2003. Without enough water in Switzerland, the defenders made a deal with Valencia. This is the precedent that then brought the trophy to Bermuda, for example. This may cause another “movement” in the cup…

We’ll see some good things. As in every America’s Cup, now…

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