Managing director of economics consultancy Fresh Info, Shane Vuletich, told the Herald that the gross domestic product (GDP) result came after a rigorous cost-benefit analysis using a unified approach applied across New Zealand, including by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
The process involved plenty of data collection and surveying and the results did not factor in such things as how Auckland residents were spending their money during the event.
“You can think of it like a set of scales where one side of the scales is all the costs and the other side is all the benefits, and we’re very careful to take a very balanced view of those two things,” Vuletich said.
“Spending by Aucklanders who attend the event is not considered to be a benefit to Auckland. A lot of other studies would consider that to be a benefit, but the reality is that’s just moving money within the economy. It’s not a benefit as such. It might be a benefit to the Viaduct, but it’s not a benefit to Auckland per se.
“Other things we don’t do: we don’t consider Tātaki Auckland’s investment, for example, in the event. That goes into the event budget and usually would get re-spent in Auckland, but that’s not a benefit either because we’re taking money out of one pocket and putting it into another.”
It’s a different process from that used by Deloitte, which SailGP uses to measure economic impact across all markets in which the league holds events, in order to deliver consistent reporting across the season. SailGP confirmed to the Herald in a statement that the report showed the Auckland event as having a total economic impact of US$35.9m ($59.2m) on the Auckland region.
SailGP’s return to Auckland in February ends the league’s initial four-year hosting agreement in New Zealand.
SailGP chief executive Sir Russell Coutts has been consistent in his desire to eventually enter a new multi-year hosting agreement with Auckland, and Hooper told the Herald that TAU shared that view.
“The event itself, it’s obviously a proven product here in Auckland now. We know the demand for it, we know the expectations, the requirements, we’ve got a great prototype, we’ve had a great platform of how to deliver it so, year on year, it gets more straightforward to deliver because we have all that established history and understanding.
“In terms of the financials and what a longer-term deal would look like, at the moment we’re in a kind of 12-month funding cycle due to how our funding is available for us here at Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, but the intention is that there’ll be a sustainable long-term funding model introduced for major events, hopefully in the near future.
“But until we’re at that point, we really can’t delve into a longer-term partnership, although there is a big desire and appetite from Auckland to do that.”
The was a hint of concern in April when SailGP announced 10 of its 12 events for the 2026 season, which included both Australian regattas but not a stop in Auckland.
TAU said at the time it was working on a mid-April deadline with the league so were aware Auckland would not be on the first schedule.
The Auckland event was the only new addition added when the full schedule was released this morning, though another regatta later in 2026 is yet to be confirmed.
“We always knew that it was the first half of the season announcement and there was going to be a second half of the season announcement, and in dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s, it’s really important to get these base agreements right,” Hooper said.
“It’s a lot of money and [it’s] really big for both SailGP and for Auckland, that everyone’s happy with how we’re contracting. So, we’re at that place now and we’ve got a great platform to springboard forward from, plus a proven event which was delivered last year.
“We’re going to go from strength to strength.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
