Team NZ boss Grant Dalton reveals plans for next America’s Cup – should they win it again
Wednesday, 11 September 2024
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Budget caps, regattas starting within months, and the next America’s Cup in 2026 are all part of Team New Zealand’s plans should they win again in October, in Barcelona.
In an exclusive interview with Stuff, the team’s chief executive Grant Dalton has taken an unprecedented step, talking about what they would do, in the event that they retained the Auld Mug.
Whether New Zealand could host the 2026 Cup would be for politicians to decide and make a bid, rather than the team actively seeking a deal, he said.
Dalton said that going public had been prompted by the eliminated challenger, Orient Express, seeking an indication of the future, to help them make plans.
America’s Cup 2026
“We can see a Cup in, potentially, 2026. Not a long cycle,” said Dalton.
A quick resumption of racing and some certainty is seen as important for teams to retain sponsors and personnel, and build experience in the boat class.
Preliminary regattas
“We can see regattas starting as early as January next year.
“We would increase the frequency of regattas – all the teams are calling out for more regattas,” he said.
These would be sailed in the AC75 cup class boat, rather than the AC40s used for build-up regattas in advance of the launch date for the second generation AC75s.
The Venue for 2026 – New Zealand?
Where the Cup would be held is open, with Barcelona not having a first option to bid.
“We have had no direct approach from New Zealand at all at this point, and we would hope that that happens at some point,” said Dalton.
He made it clear that a commercial proposal would be needed for New Zealand to host either a preliminary regatta, or the Cup itself.
“Unlike SailGP, we aren't billionaire funded. We have to produce the money ourselves from sponsors and cities. So there's no Father Christmas,” he told Stuff.
“Unless a deal commercially can wash its face, we can't do it. We're not in the subsidy business.”
While the hosting fee for Barcelona has never been confirmed, local media have reported a figure of €70 million for 2024.
Dalton saw merit in private sector involvement in a hosting bid as occurred in Barcelona, where prominent families – some of whom were behind the city’s successful 1992 Olympics bid – were involved in securing the Cup.
“It has to be based on a will to have the America's Cup in New Zealand, not something that's in it for them, because we are not interested in that,” he said.
“Barcelona is interested.“
Team budget caps
Dalton said work had begun on how to create overall team budget caps, something that had not occurred in other sports, where caps were partial, such as for salaries.
Where that would fall, given Team New Zealand’s insistence that it never had the biggest budgets in Cup campaigns, is not decided yet.
“I would suggest that Alinghi’s is astronomical. The number isn't our number because, we're just Team New Zealand, and it's not their (Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s) number because that's just stupid,” said Dalton.
“It's a number which is controllable, or realistic in a European sense.” he said.
“It might help teams to work with more collaboration, for example. If you want to go to a short cycle and have more teams, you’d need to collaborate with somebody.”
Deals could resemble the technology and design package which Orient Express bought from Team New Zealand as a fast and less-expensive way to enter.
The boat
The AC75 foiling monohull would continue into a third generation – something Orient Express’ co-founder Stephan Kandler was keen to see. But with changes.
“You’d go to a higher level of one-design (common components) which, stops (a) an arms race, (b) controls cost, and (c) allows you to move faster,” said Dalton.
They had not discussed what further elements could be design-controlled.
“I think you're seeing, for example, that the hull doesn't play a significant part in the outcome of the race,” he said.
“I mean, it's a few seconds here and there, but it's not a big factor – many other parts of the boat are more important than the hull.”
Women and Youth regattas
Dalton wants to continue the Women’s and Youth regattas using the existing fleet of smaller AC40 class foiling monohulls.
“We would never mandate a woman on the (AC75) boat, ever. But, to be true to the continuation of the pathway, we would continue to have a women's subset of the regatta,” he said.
“Now, if those women then are on the AC75 as well, then all power, but they'll earn their space.”
More teams?
“If you want to be in an event with lots of teams, go with one design,” said Dalton, meaning that wasn’t what the America’s Cup was about.
“If we had one more team, that would be good. I don't advocate that you need more than that. It's not that event. This is the top of the food chain in technology.”
Challenger of Record
The defender do not decide this on their own, there needs to be agreement with a representative team, called the Challenger of Record, in this case the British.
“We would certainly favour the Brits as a Challenger of Record at this point. Whether they favour us or not is another issue, but I think they do,” said Dalton.
“I think we have a very good, exceptionally good relationship. They'll have other views. They'll want this and they'll want that, but we share similar views.”
An agreement in principle on the new direction would need to be reached quickly, if Team New Zealand won the Cup again – a third time in succession – in October, because of the desire to be racing regattas by late January 2025.
As Dalton repeatedly pointed out though, all of the above is dependent on his team retaining the trophy.
The nearest thing to making plans before the end of a Cup cycle occurred when Oracle Team USA was the defender, going into Bermuda in 2017.
There they had sought the informal backing of most teams – Team New Zealand declined – to the event continuing in Bermuda in the AC50 catamaran class. That agreement never got tested, when Team New Zealand won, took the event to Auckland, and changed to the AC75 boat class.