"No, they haven't signed up yet. But they're on retainers, they're in, Pete in particular - Tukey's (Blair Tuke) up north digging ditches at the moment at his property – Pete's in the building quite a bit and involved, so we'll see if we get a deal done."
In a written statement to the Herald last month, Burling and Tuke said they would like "more clarity on the fundamentals of the event" before committing to another campaign.
Though unknowns remain, Wednesday's release of the Protocol for the next edition of the Cup has given some insight into the next campaign, with several changes from the regatta in Auckland such as the onboard crew being reduced from 11 to eight and teams only being allowed to build one new AC75.
The moves come as Team New Zealand and Challenger of Record Ineos Britannia look to make the regatta more accessible and achievable for a larger number of teams, with the build of just one full-scale AC75 significantly reducing the costs of the campaign. New teams will be able to purchase an AC75 from an existing one – as those who took part in the 36th edition of the Cup were permitted to build two AC75s - however existing teams will largely have to work with what they already have.
"You always spend what you can spend, but a team realistically can get in and win it for probably US$60m. Now that's a lot of money, but it's a lot less than people think," Dalton said.
Much of the development process will be carried out on the scaled-down one-design AC40, which will be used both for development as well as racing in the Women's and Youth America's Cups.
"It's really a pathway, but it's also a cost containment because we can build these boats which you can alter for your own testing at a much-reduced price because you'll have more than one produced," Dalton explained of the AC40.
"That reduces a team's cost, and it also gives them a leg in to what will effectively be a scaled-down Team New Zealand AC75, so they learn all that technology straight away, then they can make alterations to it and move on from there. So, it really plays a number of roles, plus it's going to be super cool – it's going to be a great boat to sail.'
In terms of onboard crew, the reduced number makes it more achievable, as the Protocol states 100 per cent of the race crew must be nationals of the country the team's yacht club.
To qualify as a 'national' the crew member has to either be a passport holder of the country as at March 17 2021 or to have been physically present in that country (or, acting on behalf of such yacht club in Auckland, the venue of the AC36 Events) for 18 months of the previous three years prior to 18 March 2021.
There is a discretionary provision allowing a quota of non-nationals on the race crew for competitors from approved emerging nations, with the hopes of encouraging new entries and allow emerging nations to develop their own talent.
However, exactly where the event will be held remains the great unknown.
Cork (Ireland), Barcelona (Spain) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) are thought to be among the contenders should the event head offshore. Dalton said another regatta in Auckland was by no means off the table, however doubled down on his disinterest in working with Mark Dunphy, the businessman fronting the bid to keep the regatta on home waters.
"(Auckland) is not off the agenda," Dalton said. "We've got three venues offshore, and I can assure you this is going on 24 hours a day. Our sole objective is to try and defend the America's Cup so the team exists going forward, and then if we're not in New Zealand ultimately we can come back to New Zealand."
