Royal NZ yacht squadron Commodore Aaron Young says the America's Cup is about billionaires and money and the fight to host the next America's Cup regatta in New Zealand is not over.
"Obviously we're disappointed, but at this stage it can't be in New Zealand so now there's alternatives being looked at," Royal NZ Yacht Squadron Commodore Aaron Young told Checkpoint.
"There's been no agreed terms between Team NZ and the government and [Auckland] Council to ensure we can have an event here in in a few years.
"At the moment the details are still being worked through and there's a lot to work through. But today, unfortunately it looks like we're going to have to look at various options offshore."
Young could not detail how much funding was needed to secure Auckland as the next host of the America's Cup.
He said the decision to reject the government offer of funding was made in a collaborative manner between Team NZ and the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron.
"We have an agreement with Team NZ and we work together to decide what the best outcome is for the event and our future defence."
Young said the fight for the next America's Cup to be in New Zealand is not over.
"There's still a potential chance that this could end up here," he said.
In his opinion, Young said it will probably be privately funded if it did go ahead in New Zealand.
"There's money in the world, plenty of money in the world, but as we said last night, unfortunately it's not coming to an America's Cup event right now.
"The America's Cup has always been about billionaires, and it's always been about money, so I don't really see that changing in the short-term future."
