PM Jacinda Ardern was 'disappointed' with the move of the America's Cup offshore while Auckland Mayor Phil Goff revealed more details about what will happen to the former team base locations. Video / NZ Herald / Getty Images
Barcelona's winning bid to take the America's Cup offshore has fallen short of the projected $200 million Team New Zealand said would be needed to mount a successful America's Cup defence.
Barcelona was unveiled as the host of the 37th America's Cup yesterday after a long and drawn-out process tofind a venue. The Herald can confirm the Catalonian bid came with an offer of $112m with $72m from public institutions and the remaining $40m from private entities.
That sum does not include any potential spend on infrastructure, as the city is already well prepared to host the event. A spokesperson for the bid confirmed everything they need for the venue is already in place – the facilities, the infrastructure, and areas for fans and teams.
The sum is short of the projected NZ$200m Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton has often said is needed to have a realistic chance of defending the Auld Mug, but sets the team up nicely to do so. Team New Zealand were asking for $120m from each venue in the running to host the event, and there is believed to be additional funding in the Barcelona package to take it to the $120m mark which is yet to be announced, leaving them $80m to raise through sponsorships.
The city in the northeast of Spain beat out Cork (Ireland), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Malaga (Spain) to claim the event, with a bid from Valencia (Spain) having previously been ruled out of contention.
Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the America's Cup match in Auckland. Photo / Deal Purcell.
Barcelona will get a time of right in terms of relaunching a hosting bid for the 38th edition as a result of being the successful bid, but it will only be a negotiation period and is not a right of renewal. A similar scenario was seen in Auckland, where a $99m cash and support offer tabled by the Government and Auckland Council but was ultimately rejected.
While Team New Zealand were able to stage the event in Auckland last year, they were helped with the costs of doing so by a large contribution from the event's challenger of record, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, who invested more than $150 million into the event.
"It's been said that you'd be better to lose at home than win offshore, but I just cannot get my head around that; if you lose onshore, it will never come home," Dalton told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking.
"Here's a chance that we'll be funded well enough to make a realistic chance of defending it so we can bring it home.
"If we had thought it was possible to fund and hold the America's Cup in New Zealand, it would have been there. It was obvious very early on that it was going to be very difficult or you would lose. There's no guarantee we're going to win here, but we're a chance now. We had no chance at home. To those who said we made no effort to keep it in New Zealand, that is just factually wrong.
"If we can defend here, let's hope we can bring it home."
For Barcelona, winning the right to host the event brings with it plenty of positives. Unlike Auckland in 2020/21, who spent $113m on infrastructure, Barcelona will not need to build any new infrastructure in order to be a suitable host for the event. The group has also projected that, under the best possible circumstances, hosting the event could be worth up to $1.6bn to the region.
The defender has already accepted four challenges for the event - Ineos Britannia (UK; challenger of record), Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy), Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) and American Magic (USA) - one more than was on the starting line in Auckland last year. The entry period remains open until July 31, however late entries will be considered May 31 next year.
