America’s Cup: Kiwi Future Uncertain

(October 2, 2013) – When Emirates Team New Zealand failed to dethrone defender Oracle Team USA at the 34th America’s Cup, they feared it would be the end of the country’s involvement in the event.

The cost to compete had drastically increased from when they first campaigned for the 1987 Match, and when the fifth richest man on the planet is the defender, questioning the future affordability of the event is a legitimate concern.

So when the future of your team is uncertain, these are the news reports that come from your country…

* Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker says “the vultures are already circling” the defeated America’s Cup challenger and that the team will likely fold unless action is taken to secure its future. Barker told New Zealand’s TV3 network on Tuesday “a small window of opportunity” existed to raise the funds needed to continue and ensure a fresh challenge for sailing’s oldest trophy. More

* Team New Zealand’s design and sailing team are under siege from rival challengers keen to snap up their expertise before the next America’s Cup, syndicate head Grant Dalton has said. “Really the priority is the guys and securing the guys because, it’s just a cycle of the America’s Cup and the poachers are out hard,” Dalton told reporters upon his return to New Zealand from San Francisco on Wednesday. “There’s plenty of billionaires out there that would like to strip us bare quickly. More

* Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says he will meet Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker in the next few days to discuss possible funding any future America’s Cup challenge. Mr Joyce says he is waiting for a proposal from Team New Zealand about any future challenge for the America’s Cup they may want to be part of. Any funding from the Government would be alongside other sponsorship, he says. More

* If Team New Zealand decide to mount a challenge for the next America’s Cup in 2017, it’s “probably inevitably” the Government will provide them with more funding, Prime Minister John Key said Wednesday. Short-term funding to ensure the team’s future wahttps://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/wp-admin/post-new.php#s also a “possibility”, he said. “The Government’s view is that we’re more than happy to talk to Team New Zealand – in fact, I spoke to Dean Barker myself this morning and made that point to him – `we’re more than happy to have a discussion with you: you guys come back to us when you’re in a position that you want to chat’.” More

* Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker has given the Government a deadline for a decision on funding another America’s Cup campaign. Barker said it was essential to have reassurance of funding within a fortnight (two weeks) to offer contracts to Kiwi sailors who would otherwise be poached by foreign syndicates. The skipper said he and Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton would spend the next few days working on a proposal for the Government. More