Is the America’s Cup worth it?

[content_protector password=”pavlova17″]$36 million is a lot of money, particularly when it is the money of taxpayers.

But $36 million is the amount that has been spent on the elite yacht race on the other side of the world, the America’s Cup. The race is high-status, admired and garners huge attention. Its participants compete in match races between the two sailing yachts for the trophy awarded to the winner, the Auld Mug. However, with yesterday’s win for the kiwis, the America’s Cup now becomes known as the New Zealand’s Cup! But with all this success and excitement, the question still remains, is $36 million too much money to spend on this event?

Arguably there will be several benefits to the New Zealand economy following our win, but if we accept that argument we might as well support all sorts of sports events. For instance, would we then not fund the All Whites? Football is a much more universal sport and would gain much greater exposure for New Zealand. We cannot shovel taxpayer money into sports in the hopes that we will win, when if we do not our loss could have extremely negative and significant impacts on the nation. We saw how risky that was in the 2013 America’s Cup when USA managed to come back from an 8-point disadvantage and beat New Zealand.

I believe the rewards New Zealand will take away from the Cup, now they have won, will be huge not only for New Zealand, but for tourism in general. With New Zealand bringing the Cup home, we now have the opportunity to rewrite the rules, and make it affordable for other countries to join in. Then it won’t be just a three boat race with a price tag that even Donald Trump would look sideways at.

However, suppose we had of lost out on the victory again. Would we be able to justify this spending then? Particularly when much of the money that goes to the America’s Cup team seems to fall into the hands of highly-paid sailors. As a taxpayer, I would like to see a breakdown of ETNZ’s budget and how my money is spent.

Why should hard working Kiwis fund a rich man’s sport? We shouldn’t. If people want to fund the New Zealand’s Cup team let them do it themselves without delving into the taxpayers’ pockets. If the boat building industry gets such benefit from the vent, let them fund it. Even though it may seem no different to a lot of sports and arts, perhaps it is time to let those who benefit from these events fund them and allow the rest of New Zealand to hold onto their cash.

All that being said, congratulations to the New Zealand team!

Critical Thinking Challenges:
1. Do you believe the amount of money spent on the America’s Cup was justified?
2. Did you watch the America’s Cup in 2013? Were you worried the same outcome would occur?
3. Research further predicted benefits of New Zealand’s victory in the races. Do these surpass the $36 million threshold?

Practical Tasks:
1. Ask you peers what sports they think $36 million is justifiable to spend on. All, some, or none? What patterns do you notice?
2. Find out how New Zealand was affected when we lost the race in 2013. Will we experience the opposite outcome now?
3. What is your opinion on this article? Do you agree or disagree? Share your own opinion in the COMMENTS BELOW.

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