Sailing: Grant Dalton sets sail to find more America's Cup entrants on the back of Auckland base decision

Team New Zealand will hunt for more 2021 America's Cup challengers now that Auckland is confirmed as the venue.

Challenger of record Luna Ross, the New York Yacht Club and Ben Ainslie's British syndicate are confirmed entries so far. There is further interest from Italy, while France have indicated desire to stay involved and Australia are seriously investigating a challenge.

TNZ boss Grant Dalton says he would like one or two more entrants.

"You don't wake up one morning and decide to spend $100m on the America's Cup — you've got to go out and sell it a little bit," Dalton told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking.

"It hasn't been helped by this process in Auckland — people looking at it didn't even know where the event was going to be and that changes how they are going to plan how much money they need.

"We are fine, with good entries and quality, but I'd like to get out there and get one or two more."

Dalton said the Auckland agreement came just in time.

"Time had basically run out, it was pretty tight, it came down to the wire" he said.