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Remember when the Kiwis were the young, underfunded upstarts of the America’s Cup world, with right on their side as they took on the Big Bad Americans? Remember the withering criticism leveled at Larry Ellison when, in the wake of “The Comeback” on San Francisco Bay, arguably the most exciting Cup regatta ever, he staged his 2017 defense in Bermuda?
Well, meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
This past June, at the end of a three-month period during which the city of Auckland had exclusive rights to try and convince Emirates Team New Zealand to stage its 37th Cup defense on the same waters where it successfully defended this past March, ETNZ announced it would begin shopping out the privilege to the highest bidder.
Apparently, the NZ$99 million the Kiwi government was willing to pony up (this in addition to the millions it made in payments and infrastructure improvements in the runup to the 36th Cup) wasn’t enough. According to reports in the Auckland-based New Zealand Herald, ETNZ CEO Grant Dalton wanted twice that.
But don’t worry Kiwi fans. He still loves and respects you. “No matter where in the world we are, we will always be Team New Zealand,” Dalton said in a four-paragraph press release.
At press time, ETNZ was presumably shopping the venue rights to such locales as Valencia, Spain (site of the infamous “Deed of Gift” regatta of between Swiss-flagged Alinghi and BMW Oracle in 2010); Cork, Ireland; the Middle East (of course!); and Cowes, England, with a venue announcement expected sometime in September…
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