Nick Hill: Govt should support SailGP in City of Sails

SailGP won't be going ahead in the city of sails next year as the Government has pulled funding. 

Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston wrote in a letter to mayor Wayne Brown that the event did not meet funding criteria, which requires a specific net economic benefit. 

It's been met with disappointment, as funding continues for larger events such as Robbie Williams and Linkin Park, of which some argue could have sold out on their own, without Government funding. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks dB.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
So Sale GP is not going to be going ahead
in the City of Sales next year as the government
has pulled the funding. They're not funding it. Whatever it happens,
whatever it means, it's not happening. Tourism Hospitality Minister Louise
Upston wrote in a letter to Mayor Wayne Brown that
the event did not meet funding criteria, which requires a
specific net economic benefit. Anyway, it's been met with disappointment

(00:33):
as funding continues for larger events such as Robbie Williams
and Lincoln Park, of which some argue they probably would
have sold out in their own without government funding anyway,
Tatucky Auckland Unlimited. By the way, that's the cultural events
and Destination agency for Auckland Council. The CEO, Nick.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Hill is with me now, good afternoon, go to them.
So Auckland's a.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Global sailing city, home of sailing innovation. In your view,
how is this a big miss for not securing the
sale GP.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
Yep, it is. It all stacks up from Auckland's point
of view, and I think an event like this it
really needs to be every year. So you build up
the equity in the event, so people know it's on
and they plan for it, and there's a whole lot
of stuff that happens in and around it. So we
think it's sort of central to who we are as
a city, and it's proven it works, So yeah, we're

(01:32):
very disappointed.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Look, just as a punter, I just look at it
and go, this is such a major fail that we're
not getting this.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
How big amoss is this?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
And it would have meant for Auckland and why it
would have been beneficial.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Well, if you look at what it's done the last
two that have been here, I mean it's generated five
million plus in GDP. That's GDP is basically business profits
and salaries and wages for people. So that's that's an
impact on the economy. Did what it did for the
mood of the city if you came to to the waterfront,
it really brought people back into the city to parts

(02:08):
of the city that really struggled. But also it's a
great event and that it's free for people to watch
it from wherever. And then you've got the whole industry.
You know, we're a sailing town and there are a
whole lot of industries that are based on these, you know,
being internationally competitive. I think the Mayor's sort of talked
about the technology side of it. You know, foiling is

(02:30):
Bobby synonymous with Auckland, what about you know what.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
About the media coverage? You know, the fact that it's
televised internationally. It's like the if one of sailing, isn't it?

Speaker 4 (02:39):
Oh? It absolutely is? And I mean that picture I'm
looking at the Harbor Bridge back across the stand with
the skytower and the mango in the background. That's iconic
and sol GP have used that all around the world.
It's a definition of who we are.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Do you understand are you privy to the reasons because
I'm not sure how much whether the minister has use
the line about commercial sensitivity, But do you understand why
other events have been funded and not this one? Is
it just the quantity?

Speaker 4 (03:12):
No? Yeah, No, Look, I think it comes out of
a different bucket. So the stuff that they've been funding
is something they've been making decisions on in Wellington. We
don't really have any visibility of that, and yeah, so
it comes out of a different bucket and I think
they've probably the left hand has doesn't know what the

(03:33):
right hand's doing on this one.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
So what do you what are you?

Speaker 2 (03:35):
What's your I mean, I'm not sure if you want
to comment on these things, but I'll ask you anyway.
So they're going to fund Robbie Williams, I mean, no
one's coming from Australia and New Zealand Saint Robbie or
Lincoln Park, are they what's your take on those?

Speaker 4 (03:47):
No? I mean, as I say, I don't have visibility
on the criteria that they've used. It does make sense
to fund concerts, not all of them, but something like
you know, Coleplayer is a classic example of where it's
made made a difference to between them coming to New
Zealand and not and there was strong visitation for Australia

(04:08):
from that. But events are all very different. I think
you can't generalize too much. You really have to go
into each of them and figure out what the benefits are,
whether they would stack up on their own. Like we
put a lot of money into symphony and we've grown
that with David Higgins from started out in the town
hall to something that's forty thousand now and it brings
in huge numbers from out of town and so that's

(04:29):
something we see as haven't been worth taking a risk
because it's grown and it's generated benefits. And I think
we see the same with sale GP. You've got to
be committed around these things. And you know, I think
that the sale GP ones are pretty clear one for Auckland.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
You what do you when do you think it went wrong?
And was it because sale GP wanted some more money
or was it that the government didn't understand the international
sort of exposure. I mean they must understand that. What
do you think?

Speaker 4 (04:54):
Yeah, Look, there was a stage there where Sir Russell
wanted to put it in March, which is when the
Ocean Race would have been in Aucuid, and we had
quite a to and fro with him over that and
stood out ground and said we can't make both of
the events work at the same time. So he, after
the last event, agreed to in twenty twenty seven hole

(05:17):
at the same time February. So there wasn't a clash
and all of that was resolved. That didn't mean the
thing hung around unresolved for a while. So I don't
know whether the government's view on events changed in that time.
Just at the end of the day, what advice they
were relying on but certainly from my side. We had
three years of funding signed off for Aukom to contribute

(05:38):
for the next for the next three years, and it's
what we had discussed with Sir Russell.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
So we're too from here. They say, well, I'll be
back in twenty twenty eight, and I'm sort of like, well,
I don't know, you know, they're not here, yea, what happened.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
I'm optimistic, but we can't hang around. It needs to
be resolved pretty quickly. I mean, I think there is
competition for this event. It's not like we're sitting here
and they're begging for us to do it. Having said that,
I mean, I think the Minister has said the King
to look at twenty eight and twenty nine. So that's
that's really good. So that makes the decision in twenty

(06:09):
seven slightly strange.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, it's definitely dead and bury for twenty twenty seven,
isn't Is there any any rescuing it out of the ashes?

Speaker 4 (06:16):
No? No, no, We've we've spent a couple of weeks
trying to find a way to do it, but we've
found out a couple of weeks ago that it's not
an option.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Okay, Hey, nik I really appreciate your time this afternoing,
Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
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