Editorial: Many challenges beyond the Cup

Before this weekend is over New Zealand's tenure of the America's Cup may have run its course. Let us not count ourselves out yet; the boat is competitive and the crew can get better with each race. If they can win one race they can win five. We might all be more hopeful by tonight. But it is not too soon to remind ourselves there is life after the cup.

The trophy has been such a compelling symbol of competitive business that it sometimes seems a pillar of the national economy. It is not. It is little more than a symbol, albeit one that generates its fair share of servicing activities. Quite a number of Aucklanders have much to lose if Team New Zealand cannot retain the cup. Charter boat operators, hospitality providers, extra restaurant and bar staff around the Viaduct Harbour and many others doing good business these days will see their golden goose sail away if Alinghi win two more races.

But on a national scale the loss is negligible beside the impact of, say, the fall in Fonterra's pay-outs to dairy farmers this year or the Government's measures to reduce immigration. With farm commodity prices having fallen and the dollar higher than it has been for several years, the country might notice a fall in activity. But it would have little to do with the loss of the cup.

Strictly speaking, the cup is not a profitable activity. Dredging and building the Viaduct Harbour cost the city and the country far more than they can earn from the cup event. The expense is justified by the value of spin-off activity but that is a doubtful economic principle at the best of times. The splendid boat harbour that tax and rates have provided for the America's Cup will have to constantly attract worthwhile events once the cup has gone. An organiser of Sydney's successful bid for the Olympics, Rod McGeoch, suggests the Viaduct could be the stage for an international expo like that which attracted millions to Brisbane in 1988. It is an idea; there will be many more.

Mr McGeoch was speaking to the Knowledge Wave Trust Forum convened in Auckland this week to discuss yet again the economic challenge facing the country. The challenge remains to upgrade our international trading base to a level that not just pays for the living standard we enjoy at present but lifts it to a level comparable with the six to eight richest countries in the world. The forum was timed to coincide with the America's Cup, plainly in the hope of drawing inspiration from a dashing Team New Zealand performance.

Sadly, no such inspiration has been available this week, except perhaps a rather sorry reminder that the absence of preparatory competition does not produce international match winners. Neither the boat nor the crew looks match-fit yet. But it was sadder to hear the Prime Minister lambast the forum for a supposedly hidden agenda. Her Government has been denying the urgency of the need for economic improvement. It has been lulled by the commodity prices and low dollar of the past three years and coasting, like Team NZ over the same period perhaps, on the legacy of predecessors.

Helen Clark missed an opportunity this week to help to rekindle the economic effort and may not wake up to the task until the effects of lower export returns are felt in the Government's polls. Team NZ have had their rude awakening. They have had two races now to sharpen their act. If they are not match-fit this weekend they might not get another chance.

Let nobody count them out. If the boat is sound and the wind is up, they could yet pull off the come-back to beat all. But if they cannot overtake their battle-hardened compatriots on the Swiss challenge, let's be sporting at the finish. It would not be the end of the world.

Continuous coverage of today's America's Cup race will begin on nzherald.co.nz at 12.30pm.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

Racing schedule and results