America's Cup- Dalton coy on 'Major Event' for New Zealand

by Richard Gladwell Sail-World.com/nz on 3 Dec 2014 Emirates Team NZ CEO, Grant Dalton, speaking from Auckland, said the team had known for a while that the match would be held in Bermuda and that the announcement 'was not a bombshell' for the team.

He added they would have preferred the US mainland venue of San Diego.

Dalton said that the main benefit of Bermuda was the proximity to European markets from a time-zone point of view, and the favourable time zone for television. He added that there was more teams this time and that he was expecting more interest as a result.

'While San Francisco was an amazing event, there were not many teams. this time there are more confirmed teams. They are real and they are European.' Due to the favourable times for TV, Dalton was expecting more European interest in a Bermuda hosted event.

Despite the venue being in Bermuda, Emirates Team New Zealand was in no hurry to head for the island in the Atlantic Ocean. 'We are a New Zealand based team, we will stay here until the last moment when we will take the team away.'

He had no idea of concessions of financial incentives being offered to the Challengers for the Bermuda venue.

'Bermuda gives us challenges in terms of hospitality. But Omega, for example, actually like Bermuda because it is different from the hospitality point of view. There are pluses and minuses to Bermuda, but we would have preferred San Diego.'

'We have business plans together for some time for either venue,' Dalton said, speaking on an extended interview broadcast on prime time breakfast television in New Zealand. 'Our plans are not particularly venue dependent', he added.

Dalton would not be drawn on the NZ Government's reaction to Bermuda. But he did reveal that their proposals would be completed today, in conjunction with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and would be sent to the Ministry for Economic Development for consideration. The Minister, Steven Joyce, has previously said that Bermuda would be a hard sell for additional investment in an America's Cup Challenge.

'We will have to see what they say after they have analysed it,' Dalton said.

Negotiations for a major event to be held in New Zealand were announced by Dr Harvey Schiller, America's cup Commissioner at the Media session in Manhattan, NY earlier today. Dalton would not be drawn on specifics and said discussions were at an early stage. 'I hope we can pull it off. It would be great for New Zealand, for the industry, for the fan base and for the team as well.

'It is early days and I can't really say any more at this stage.'

The event is believed to be hosting the America's Cup Qualifier Series, which was touted in the Protocol which governs the next America's Cup, as being required to eliminate one team if there were more than four Challengers. Currently there are five Challengers with two more said to be pending according to the America's Cup Events Authority.

The Defender, Oracle Team USA also has the right to compete in the series, and the winner takes one point into the America's Cup match if they win the Qualifier. The surprise with the venue announcement was that the Match will be sailed in June, 2017, normally regattas are sailed in September.

The Qualifier venue is determined by America's Cup Events Authority. They last no more than 30 days, and have to commence no earlier than four months prior to the America's Cup Play-offs (Semi-Finals and Finals for the Challenger Selection Series), which will be sailed in Bermuda. The Play-offs will be started 25 days before, and concluded three days before the Match.

A competitor can launch their AC62 catamaran, which will be used for the next America's Cup 150 days before the Qualifiers, which on the basis of current dates and tentative schedules would be October 2016, in Auckland - the start of the summer sailing season. The Qualifiers would be held in January - February 2017.

If the series goes ahead, all teams would set up in Auckland and train from the Viaduct area. Potentially the Qualifier will have more economic impact than the America's Cup itself - being of longer duration and with more teams and support staff. Auckland also has the advantage of twice being a previous America's Cup Venue and has substantial marine industry infrastructure. Oracle Team USA also have their construction facility based in Warkworth, and hours drive north of Auckland. Southern Spars who are expected to obstruction wingsails for many of the teams are located in Downtown and West Auckland. North Sails and Doyle Sails have major facilities in Auckland.

The build-up period to the Qualifiers is vital to teams to have ready access to good boat construction facilities if there is damage or substantial modifications required to the AC62's which will be in in their first cycle of use. While three of the teams have experience from their AC72 program's, two teams and potentially four do not, and established support facilities will be essential. All teams will be on an equal basis in Bermuda, with none enjoying a home base advantage - as Oracle Team USA did in terms of boat building facilities in San Francisco.

Probably the most suitable venue is Takapuna Beach, used for AC72 racing in 2013, which has easy spectator access, and was also the venue for the International A-class Catamaran World Championships in February 2014.

The event would attract substantial media coverage, both in the build-up and in the Qualifier itself - which is the equivalent of the Round Robin series of the former Louis Vuitton Cup. It is also the first and only time that the Challengers will come up against the Defender in an indicator series ahead of the 35th Match.

Turning back to the Government involvement, or rather a decision not to be involved because of the Bermuda venue, Dalton was upbeat. 'At this stage we will be there, I can tell you that, but it is a day to day moving target. Bermuda is new, not to us because we have known about it for two weeks.

'It is my job to ensure that 29 years of involvement in the America's Cup by Team New Zealand continues.'