The Front Page: Should 'New Zealand' be removed from Emirates Team NZ's name?

Front Page Podcast Host·NZ Herald·

31 Mar, 2022 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Team New Zealand will not be racing in local waters in 2024. Photo / Getty Images

News that the 2024 edition of the America's Cup would not be held in New Zealand hit fans hard across the country.

In a sport that has given us other high-profile betrayals such as the departure of Sir Russel Coutts, this left a sour taste in the mouths of many.

Newstalk ZB sport director Matt Brown tells the Front Page podcast it's hard to rank among the greatest betrayals in New Zealand sports history, but it definitely hurts.

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"New Zealand has an incredible affinity with the America's Cup," Brown says. "When I was a kid, we grew up thinking if we win the cup, we get to defend it at home.

"We have all these benefits that flow from that. Just look at [Auckland's] viaduct and all the infrastructure that's been built. It wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the America's Cup… So I think there is a sense of a betrayal, especially since we won't get those benefits now. And it certainly hurts."

The decision to take the cup to Europe has ultimately come down to money. While the New Zealand Government offered $99 million to have the event here, the offers that came from abroad exceeded that.

"The winning bid from Spain was 70 million euros. So that's about $112 million. It doesn't sound like that much more, but the key difference here is none of that's for the infrastructure. That's all already built in Barcelona.

"That money goes straight to team New Zealand to effectively do what they want to fund the team, to help build the boat, to get this campaign going. The Auckland bid was effectively $31 million going to the team to run its operations. The rest was on infrastructure and everything around organising the event. So that's a big gap of around $70 or $80 million."

The Kiwi Home Defence campaign offered to put another $40m toward the bid, but that bridge was still too far for Team New Zealand.

Brown says it's important to remember that Team New Zealand is a private enterprise, so it isn't entirely surprising that they're looking for the biggest financial gain.

In that case shouldn't the "New Zealand" reference simply be dropped from the name and replaced with the more fitting Team Emirates?

"I've seen a lot of [that idea] that floating around on social media," says Brown.

"Look, Emirates Team New Zealand is a company. It's not like the All Blacks, which we kind of own.

"But [Team New Zealand] has grown as such a brand that New Zealand identifies with without a doubt. It's a really interesting situation."

Brown also notes that there are still benefits for New Zealand to be associated with the prestigious sailing outfit.

"The reality is that Team New Zealand is still a very marketable brand and there are benefits for the New Zealand sailing, yachting and boating industries by having the New Zealand name at the America's cup."

The bigger question now is whether fans will see things that way come 2024.