27 Mar 2018

America's Cup: NZ may gain up to $1b - David Parker

From Morning Report, 8:10 am on 27 March 2018

It's taken months of wrangling and the threat of the the event being moved to Italy but a deal has finally been struck for the America's Cup venue on Auckland's waterfront. Taxpayers will pay $114 million including a hosting fee of $40 million in the deal between Auckland Council and Emirates Team NZ. Economic Development Minister, David Parker, says the negotiations have yielded a result which minimises the extension of new wharves into the harbour and is at the lowest practical cost. Mr Parker tells Guyon Espiner NZ will get up to $1 billion in additional revenue from the event. "The economic benefits of this are clear... NZ's better able to afford the nurses' pay settlement with the America's Cup than without."