America’s Cup: Team NZ CEO Grant Dalton on search for host venue; Auckland’s chances of hosting a preliminary regatta

Grant Dalton and Team NZ won their third-straight America's Cup in Barcelona last year. Photo / Photosport

Clarity is getting closer in the new cycle of the America’s Cup.

Emirates Team New Zealand and America’s Cup Event chief executive Grant Dalton flew to Europe late last week for more meetings with potential hosts as he looks to lock in a venue for the next regatta, expected to be in 2027.

Italy and Greece have been reported to be among the hopeful hosts, and after Auckland was ruled out as a potential host earlier this month, it seems likely the event will be held in the Northern Hemisphere again.

“I don’t think we’re that far away from actually being ready to announce a new venue for the America’s Cup, although we were hoping that was going to be Auckland,” Dalton told the Herald.

The Herald understands a fee of $150 million was being sought to host the event in Auckland in a three-way funding model that would have combined private backers, local government and central government.

However, Team NZ announced that wouldn’t be happening as the funds were not available at a central government level, which would have been a cash investment of up to $50m as well as flow-on spend.

The 36th America's Cup was held in Auckland in 2021. Photo / Dean Purcell

That doesn’t completely rule out Auckland hosting some form of racing in this America’s Cup cycle at this point, with preliminary regattas expected to be included in the campaign again.

However, Dalton said preliminary regattas were not in the thinking at this stage and work wouldn’t be started in that space until the host for the main regatta was locked in.

“I’ve been asked about preliminary regattas in various places and the answer to that is that we’ll lock in the main event, then we’ll sort of feed backwards from that, because there’s no doubt that that country will also want a preliminary regatta as well, and it’s probably Europe, and New Zealand’s an awful long way from Europe,” Dalton explained.

“There’s a lot more consultation with the teams themselves now than has been traditional in the America’s Cup and that hopefully is moving in the right direction. The teams will have a say; we’re trying to keep costs under control and it’s not cheap for them to travel all the way to New Zealand, so it’ll be a consultation with the teams on where they would like to go for the preliminary regattas as well.”

There is an element of time pressure on the confirmation of the host of the 38th edition of the America’s Cup, with the venue needing to be locked in within eight months of the final race in the Barcelona match.

That sets the deadline for June 20, with the new protocol – the blueprint for the next regatta – to be published within the same timeframe.

Before flying to Europe last week, Dalton expected they would be ready to announce the next venue before that deadline, though he noted “the devil’s always in the detail and contracts”.

Team New Zealand beat Ineos Britannia in the America's Cup match in Barcelona last year. Photo / Photosport

There will be plenty to unfold in the America’s Cup over the coming months. Last week, Ineos announced they would not be proceeding with a second British challenge, noting drawn-out proceedings with Sir Ben Ainslie’s Athena Racing – who represent the Royal Yacht Squadron, the Challenger of Record – over settlement negotiations that would have allowed both their teams to compete as their reason for doing so.

Athena Racing declined to comment on that situation when contacted by the Herald.

Later in the week, Team NZ confirmed they would be moving forward without three-time Cup-winning helmsman – and their incumbent skipper – Peter Burling. While nationality rules will prevent Burling from sailing with another team, it would be a surprise if every challenger did not sound him out for an advisory or coaching role, given his success and knowledge in the AC75.

Burling had an offer on the table from Team NZ, which Dalton said reflected his position of seniority in the team and the fact they were going for a fourth-straight title.

However, that was ultimately withdrawn by the team as Dalton said they could not let any more time go by in their campaign with the Cup due to be raced by October 2027.

“We didn’t even get to the point of a full rejection one way or the other because we just couldn’t get far enough to get to that point.”

Dalton said although some members of the team have been locked in, one of the key points for Team NZ was that they didn’t want to lock everyone in until that key negotiation had finished.

“Without being able to finish it or reach a mutual position between us meant that we were unable to really, other than obvious people, lock in the future, and that’s one of the reasons that it came to a head as well.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.