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The Cup is gone


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A very depressing meeting tonight at the squadron, with Grant Dalton leading the way, obviously called quickly in response to a lot of long standing members questioning the need to defend offshore.

Grant presented us with his scenario, pretending to forget Jim Ratcliffes name was the first sign of total spin, (no wonder National looked past him all those years ago when he considered politics). 

Conveniently forgetting the promise last year that if we won the marine industry would get a payback in the next defence hopefully after Covid this time,( I have been in the marine industry since before he was a rep for Lynn laces/ Feltex ropes).

The boil down of all the flannel was -we cant afford to defend the cup here, so we are better taking the money and racing elsewhere and even if we win it wont come back as an event as we cant afford it here, but the soft soap was a pre round here and maybe some youth professional yachting training!

No hard numbers were mentioned despite many questions, understandable if they are still trying for more from our strapped government.

So we are told if you want to see the cup in the Squadron display cabinet -it has to be raced offshore or the government has to come up with an undisclosed fortune to 'persuade' them to stay here.

Essentially this will be like the All Blacks are the top of their game, but we all have to pay and there will be no games in NZ!

Very depressing that the Commodore has agreed to this.

I am booking my place on the Isle of Wight now, and the Diamond Races and Isle of Wight festival all add to the fun.

Please someone -anyone prove me wrong

 

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Lets just say that it wasn't surprise; https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2103/S00085/on-why-emirates-team-new-zealand-is-a-really-really-bad-look.htm

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Call me a conspiracy theorist, but can it be accidental that the UK team and this UK location has come to the fore after Emirates have made significant investments in and around the Isle of Wight? The Spinnaker Tower that dominates Portsmouth for instance, is now called the Emirates Spinnaker Tower. Across the Solent, Emirates has also heavily invested in the yachting infrastructure on the Isle of Wight. (Apparently, you can see the Isle of Wight from the Tower viewing platform.)

 

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Why is it too expensive to defend here, as against defending overseas. Is it a situation of being able to get bigger and better sponsorship if they are overseas? I would have thought the cost of taking everyone and everything offshore would be far more expensive.

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10 minutes ago, wheels said:

Why is it too expensive to defend here, as against defending overseas. Is it a situation of being able to get bigger and better sponsorship if they are overseas? I would have thought the cost of taking everyone and everything offshore would be far more expensive.

The taking everyone/everything offshore etc is what Emirates will pay for I would think ? And probably a whole lot more if they chose to go to the Solent instead of staying in Auck

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Looks to me that TNZ have poked themselves in the eye with a burnt stick regarding the complexity and associated costs of mounting a AC campaign.

Without a large social welfare payment from the public purse going offshore is their  only other option.

Good riddance I say.

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A strange part of what Grant said last night and he repeated this: Mission to retain the cup is first priority , Team and individuals come after this.

Then in the next breath he asserts that defending it against multiple challengers in the Solent (or wherever) will likely succeed better at this than defending against fewer challengers down here on our home waters ??

The underlying current of course is that money rules-as it always has with the business of the Americas Cup, so knowing this the government should probably shut the seacock of cooling funds to the overheated engine of ETNZ sooner rather than later. Otherwise we are still transferring public funds directly into private pockets, for no gain to NZ.

BP you are right, the RNZYS needs to think laterally-host it here in TP52s -imagine the number of topline entrants from the whole world -back to proper yachting and we have the sailors here to carry it off -Harry D etc. 

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As I understand it, one problem they are trying to address is loss of experience ie crew leaving to bigger offers from other syndicates.  This takes money.

Money requires big sponsors.

Big sponsors want lots of eyeballs and hype.

We are too small, too far away for sponsors to see that value.

These issues apply to all the teams to some extent.  Sponsors far prefer a northern hemisphere location for issues of exposure.

Its the same drivers as why we no longer have international rally rounds here in NZ, our rugby team is becoming an american product, our golfers play overseas our eventers live overseas etc etc.

The AC has moved significantly from what it was and is heading overseas - get used to it. 

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58 minutes ago, aardvarkash10 said:

As I understand it, one problem they are trying to address is loss of experience ie crew leaving to bigger offers from other syndicates.  This takes money.

Money requires big sponsors.

Big sponsors want lots of eyeballs and hype.

We are too small, too far away for sponsors to see that value.

These issues apply to all the teams to some extent.  Sponsors far prefer a northern hemisphere location for issues of exposure.

Its the same drivers as why we no longer have international rally rounds here in NZ, our rugby team is becoming an american product, our golfers play overseas our eventers live overseas etc etc.

The AC has moved significantly from what it was and is heading overseas - get used to it. 

Correct. It has out-grown NZ’s ability to host it. Which is sad for NZers but an inevitable by-product of its success.

History would not be kind to NZ if we tried to hold onto it in Auckland by artificially putting the brakes on scale of innovation - the T52 idea is laughable after the foiling monos.

AC has come of age and needs to fly the nest. Best thing we can do is recognise that and hope to stay in the innovation race and keep our name on the mug wherever it happens.

And if you want to watch it then livestream. Be honest - even the spectator fleet had minimal view of the action and everyone on the water was watching their devices to see what was actually happening anyway.

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Thats your world Fogg, but dont call it Team NZ or give public money , a TP52 based event would bring an exciting defenders series heaps of challengers and supporting superyachts here. We would get a whole summer of quality racing and the spin off, of course there would be no need for multi million $ CEOs either. 

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10 minutes ago, waikiore said:

Thats your world Fogg, but dont call it Team NZ or give public money , a TP52 based event would bring an exciting defenders series heaps of challengers and supporting superyachts here. We would get a whole summer of quality racing and the spin off, of course there would be no need for multi million $ CEOs either. 

While a TP 52 series sounds good, the AC has always been a design contest. Using an existing class would remove that element. And from a sponsorship point of view, how would you differentiate the AC from any other TP 52 event, i.e. the Med Cup etc?

I think the underlying issue is access to sponsors and RoI. Sponsors use these big events for hosting / hospitality, networking etc. It needs to be easy for them to get clients etc to the event. With the covid thing, we couldn't even get the superyachts into the country, let alone guests / clients / people of influence etc.

Emirates were not at the prize giving - the naming sponsor. I was expecting that was cause they had canned the sponsorship, but if they are getting naming rights to things in Cowes, they are still in the game. Could they even get into the country to be present for the prize giving last time?

I can't really see how you could run a multi million $$$ event in NZ now. Govt could cancel the bike bridge, but at the same time our nurses are striking and DHB's can't run an IT system...

Basically, because we can't get tourists & sponsors (the people) into NZ, you can't get an RoI on any funding dollars. They can in the UK.

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And now it is official:

The Government and Auckland Council have confirmed no deal has been reached to host the 37th America’s Cup in Auckland, and a “cash and kind” offer of $99 million has lapsed.

The confirmation comes a day before the end of the three-month period in which the pair have exclusive rights to negotiate a hosting deal with the cup holder, Team New Zealand.

The news makes it more likely the next defence will be sailed offshore, but does not preclude Auckland hosting an event as part of a wider offshore deal.

America's Cup: Government confirms no hosting deal for Auckland | Stuff.co.nz

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22 minutes ago, waikiore said:

Thats your world Fogg, but dont call it Team NZ or give public money , a TP52 based event would bring an exciting defenders series heaps of challengers and supporting superyachts here. We would get a whole summer of quality racing and the spin off, of course there would be no need for multi million $ CEOs either. 

If you want a TP52 event then hold a TP52 event. But don’t pretend it’s the AC. Imagine the worldwide reaction if we seriously announced the next event would be TP52s doing harbour racing. You’d hear the world laughing from here.

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46 minutes ago, Sabre said:

I wonder how much tax payers money they would have got had they told us they would take the cup offshore if they won?

Indeed. I know it's a business and that there are no friends only cash etc, but I'd be fuming if I was the Labour Government. Considering the flak they took for the border exemptions and the cash pumped into the campaign, I'd have thought that there was almost an implied contract that a non-COVID Am Cup defence in Auckland would help pay back some of the promised economic benefit.

Plus I want to see that J boat regatta that was planned for this year's cup.

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I'd rather watch TP52's or J-Boats battle it out in Americas Cup or just an event here. Those guys attract more billionaires/superyachts that the Americas Cup does.

Rugby World Cup (or any other championship including the olympics) isn't held in the winners country by default. It's put out to the highest bidder by Rugby (always the winner on the day)

I only watched the last one (all since 2000 actually) on TV so makes no difference to me where it's held

 

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