Kiwis win, lose at 36th America’s Cup

While winning the America’s Cup was once the reward, now selling it has become a significant benefit. But as was learned by San Francisco in 2013 and Auckland in 2021, the value of the event is hard to estimate. Both governments, after post-event review, overpaid.

A suite of reports released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Auckland Council show despite being largely successful, the loss is put down to higher than projected public investment, few international visitors, and less challenging teams than was estimated.

The cost benefit analysis identified costs of $744.2 million against benefits of $588.1 million. This is a net cost of 156.1 million. In other words, for every dollar spent, New Zealand only made 79 cents…

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