News Around the World
Fact: only Clint Eastwood or an Italian can get away with wearing a brown suit… so why are the bloody Italians always just so much more stylish than the rest of us? When magnificent camera artist Carlo Borlenghi wanted a different take on the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Youth Team this is what he produced (try to avoid recalling those cringeworthy images of Team GBR sailors wearing only gold paint)
Cup defences was the way to go. ‘The Cup’s future is travelling from one venue to the next, each funding Team New Zealand’s next defence against the vast power of the likes of New York Yacht Club and the Royal Yacht Squadron,’ he advised. He went on to urge the government and New Zealand companies to climb aboard and use the multiple marketing opportunities around the team’s high-tech achievements. It has, however, been widely lamented that the Luxon government,
which declares itself as aggressively pro-business, did absolutely nothing to capitalise on the huge interest generated by ETNZ’s astonishing three-peat success in Europe. Sir Ian Taylor, founder and CEO of Animated Research Ltd – which produces live graphics for many sports broadcasts, including the Cup – penned an open letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to heed the lessons of the team’s achievement as ‘one of the most advanced technology companies’ in the country. ‘Grant Dalton and his team have painted you a new canvas upon
which to promote Aotearoa New Zealand to the world and the time to move on that is now.’ He proposed a formula where the govern- ment would offer the team some branding sponsorship to acknowl- edge the value it brings to New Zealand Inc. The next step would be to commission Weta Workshop, the movie special effects company behind Sir Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit productions, to create a New Zealand Pavilion to travel with the Cup and tell the story of New Zealand’s high-tech industries. In the current climate it might be a stretch for New Zealand to
drum up the level of funding required for a home defence, but the fact that it is being explored at all is in truth an unexpected devel- opment. Whether for a home defence or offshore, strong arguments are being advanced for government and the private sector to join forces and get behind the Cup. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, now ETNZ’s patron, added
her voice, saying the potential economic and marketing returns would now make it a politically acceptable proposition. Either way, Dalton has made it clear he would not expect the
government to sacrifice any frontline funding. ‘We believe in hospitals, education, nurses, doctors, transport… all those things,’ he said. But tourism and research and development budgets could still be more appropriate sources of support. Ivor Wilkins
28 SEAHORSE
SPAIN Barcelona, Valencia and the 38th AC When Grant Dalton expressed the impossibility of hosting more team bases in the Port of Barcelona, just after the final Match, it seemed that he was announcing that Barcelona would not be the host city of the America’s Cup again. Surprising words for everyone, including most people in Barcelona. The statement was the result of a meeting a couple of days
earlier between Deputy Mayor Jordi Valls and the CEO of America’s Cup Event. Everything indicates that there was not much by way of a dialogue, as the councillor surprisingly told Dalton that the city was not willing to make any financial contribution to renew its role as the host city of the event. The reasons come down to the intriguing political scenarios that
we usually enjoy here… because of the need for the Barcelona City Council to approve the 2025 budget, since the PSC, the governing party, does not have a majority and needs the support of others to win any vote. And among them is the former governing party of the city, which allowed itself to be seduced by the opposition into hosting the America’s Cup, despite its lack of interest, which has now become a public criticism. In September the first alarm bells rang when opinion groups
began to denounce as false the figures promised by the America’s Cup on visitor numbers, the audience and the economic impact on the city and the region. Immediately the current mayor replied saying that they would wait until the event was over to do a full audit. And there are interesting nuances in the announced figures, and
also in those declared more recently. Regarding the audience, the natural assumption is to think that the figures refer to television, and it is difficult to believe that this was the third largest TV global audience after the Olympic Games and the football World Cup... Even if we add in social networks, how do we compare the America’s Cup with F1 or MotoGP? And for the Grand Prix, do we count those included in two months or the entire season?! Another issue is the numbers of people who personally followed
the event in situ. It is one thing to talk about attendees or about attendance, for an attendee can be present for several days or for a week, but attendance must refer to the number of people who have attended. This clearly affects the tourism figures and so the economic impact the venues generate.
CARLO BORLENGHI
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