America's Cup

$156m loss for NZ

AUCKLAND: New Zealand made a loss of $156 million from hosting the America’s Cup event in March.

An evaluation report released by the Crown and the Auckland Council shows that for every dollar spent, 28c was lost.

The loss is put down to higher than projected public investment, few international visitors, and only three of the potential 10 challengers racing.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and Auckland Council costbenefit analysis found the Cup created an additional $298.2 million in expenditure in Auckland and was the most watched America’s Cup of all time.

The 38,745 people who visited Auckland during the event spent $298 million.

However, it found the economic return for the event was lower than had been forecast due to Covid19 restriction visitors, media and superyachts.

‘‘The costbenefit analysis (CBA) for Auckland has identified a benefitcost ratio of 0.85.

‘‘In other words, for every dollar put in, Auckland got 85c back,’’ it said.

‘‘When considering financial returns only, Auckland got 72c back for every dollar put in.’’

The Cup drew a total global audience of 941 million people and a dedicated audience of 68.2 million viewers across the world, the report said.

They watched 52 hours of live broadcast in 236 territories.

Despite the cost to the host, 94% of attendees said they were ‘‘satisfied’’ or ‘‘very satisfied’’ with their overall experience, and 89% of attendees living in Auckland said it increased their pride in the city.

America’s Cup organisers’ report on their own event has described it as a ‘‘highly successful global event’’, given the challenges of hosting the regatta during a pandemic.

America’s Cup Event (ACE) yesterday released its 110page review, detailing the highlights and challenges behind the scenes.

It said there had been 860,000 visits to the Cup Village during the racing from December to March, and planning and running the Cup had been challenging due to restrictions because of Covid19.

‘‘The sudden change in circumstances had an immediate impact on planning for AC36.

‘‘Aspirations and expectations from all involved in the hosting of AC36 needed to be recalibrated, as the reality of the situation sank in and the global pandemic continued to rage throughout the world.’’

About 26,000 international visitors had been expected before the pandemic changed that outlook.

‘‘Early indications are that AC36 was the most watched America’s Cup ever, surpassing the viewership of the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017.’’

The report shows the organisation spent $45 million, mostly from Crown funding, but also including sponsorships and TV revenue.

It spent $26 million on administration, $3.7 million on TV production, $2.4 million on the Race Village, $1.1 million on social media, $629,000 on website costs, and $7 million on ‘‘challenger or record event costs’’ (Team NZ’s event costs).

It also details the organisation’s frustrations in working with the public sector, with some processes described as ‘‘cumbersome and timeconsuming’’.

ACE said it was required to attend 32 regular meetings, ‘‘most of which were unproductive and resulted in conflicting information and instructions being delivered to ACE’’.

❛ Aspirations and expectations . . . needed to be recalibrated