Team NZ close to securing $100m in sponsorship

10.00am

Team New Zealand says it is not far from signing sponsorship deals to give it nearly $100 million of the estimated $150m it needs to get to the next America's Cup regatta in Spain.

Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton said today he had already signed some sponsorship deals "but not enough to know that we are going. A couple of phone calls will change the world".

He would not say exactly how much they needed to get to the 2007 regatta in Valencia but said it was "not a lot less" than $150m.

"To go ahead I would want to know I had committed 65-70 per cent of the money and be able to see where the rest of it was coming from."

He would not reveal how much sponsorship money was already confirmed.

"I am waiting for the big phone call for the one that will take us over the top."

That would take the campaign to around $100m with three years to get the rest, he said.

Dalton said he was not committed to building the Cup yachts in Auckland.

"We want to take this back to the heartland. We would consider building the boats outside Auckland. I am not wedded to the Auckland thing."

He said building the boats outside Auckland and taking the boats on a tour of New Zealand would follow the ideals Sir Peter Blake set up after New Zealand first won the Cup.

- NZPA

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/americascup