America's Cup defence to stay in NZ? Grant Dalton keeps door open for Auckland event

Team New Zealand says it will explore the possibility of keeping the next America's Cup in Auckland after an "11th hour" funding bid to host the defence of Auld Mug here.

It comes as the selection period to choose which venue the next America's Cup will be held at has been extended.

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Emirates Team New Zealand this morning said it had received a letter from businessman Mark Dunphy regarding the viability of his funding to maintain the event in Auckland.

Team New Zealand's chief executive Grant Dalton said there were a number of outstanding potential venues literally going down to the wire.

He said all had "strong and competitive" bids on the table and firmly committed to completing agreements in the coming weeks.

"It's frustrating not to have been able to close our agreement with a Host Venue by the planned date of 17 September as previously proposed but we are now giving ourselves more time to work through the final details of the respective venues as the current Covid situation in New Zealand has made the process more difficult," said Dalton.

"So now that we finally have an 11th-hour letter from Mr Dunphy, it would be remiss of us not to explore the viability of an Auckland event and if it in fact can be fully and completely funded locally. To date there has been no evidence of this being the case."

Team New Zealand and the yacht squadron this morning announced they are extending the selection period for the shortlisted offshore venues "to continue to work through final details and provide further information required for their respective bids".

"For the benefit of both the 37th America's Cup and the eventual host venue, we would rather allow some more time now so we make the right decision as opposed to a rushed decision," said the squadron's commodore Aaron Young.

In a joint statement issued this morning both Team New Zealand the yacht squadron said it was both prudent and responsible to extend the deadline for offshore venues to continue to progress negotiations after Covid lockdown in New Zealand made it impossible for team members to visit the venues.

They said it was originally planned to carry out essential face to face meetings and provide final team feedback to act on recommendations.

The joint statement said both Team New Zealand and the yacht squadron had to balance the need for further time to ensure they accepted a bid that was in the best interests of the America's Cup event with the need for Challengers to know the final venue as soon as practicable.

The search for the AC37 Host Venue was started in May last year by Origin Sports Group but was paused for an exclusive three-month period from March 17th, during which the New Zealand Government had the exclusive right to negotiate AC37 being held in New Zealand and continued once this period lapsed.