Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling says he'd like to see a nationalist element brought back to the America's Cup.
Less than 24 hours since arriving back in the country, the youngest helmsman ever to win the Auld Mug told The AM Show he thought it was vital the America's Cup became more than just team vs team, but country vs country.
"I think it'd be nice to be a bit more nationalistic than last time," Burling said.
"We had a great bunch of Kiwis on our boat, I think five or six were citizens pretty much every race. It's something I think that's a big part of the cup."
Since Team New Zealand claimed the cup with a comprehensive 7-1 race win over Oracle Team USA, there have been fears wealthier syndicates would try to pinch some of the Kiwis' brightest stars, including Burling and his Olympic partner Blair Tuke.
With skipper Glenn Ashby on Wednesday confirming he has received calls regarding a potential poaching, Burling said it certainly wasn't something he had considered, although he was non-committal on his future.
"Just like everyone, everyone's just arrived home. I love sailing for New Zealand, love representing the country that I'm incredibly proud to be from but no one's made any decision about anything yet.
"Right now, we're just trying to enjoy this moment. It's been a whole heap of hard work, for myself and Blair - we haven't really had any time off since the Olympics, so we had about a week of media stuff then we got straight into this.
"I'm really looking forward to a few days off and we'll have to wait and see."
Asked directly whether he'd receive an offer from another syndicate, Burling said: "Nah not yet. I'm sure everyone gets offers about everything. Like I said before, there's a whole heap of things that needed to be decided before that point."
Tune in to Three, newshub.co.nz and RadioLIVE from 12:30pm on Thursday for full coverage of Team NZ's welcome home parade.
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