Even at the expense of disappointing Kiwi sailing fans, Emirates Team New Zealand are standing by their decision to defend the America's Cup at Barcelona.
Team NZ have announced their next defence of the 'Auld Mug' - retained at home in Auckland last year - will be staged at Barcelona, which beat competition from Spain's Malaga, Ireland's Cork and Saudi Arabia's Jeddah for the rights.
Auckland's status as host venue was all but over as early as June last year, when Team NZ rejected the official offer from the Government to seek better opportunities elsewhere.
Team NZ chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge has told AM that a move to Barcelona will only benefit the America's Cup as a whole, exposing the event to new audiences and new markets.
"That's one of the responsibilities you have when you defend the Cup," Shoebridge says. "We've got to try and grow the sport, and do the best thing for it.
"We think there's huge opportunity here - being in a city such as Barcelona, which is a major city - for more people to view it, more people to engage with it, with different time slots for European television.
"We think this is the best place for that to happen."
While Team NZ have reluctantly rejected the offer to keep the America's Cup on home waters, Shoebridge insists an overseas offer puts the Kiwi syndicate in the best position to defend the hallowed trophy.
"It's not an easy position for anyone to be in here. We negotiated with Auckland Government and council for the three months after the match finished in March last year.
"They put their best foot forward, which we were very appreciative of, and for the times that we're in - with COVID and everything else, and budget being spent elsewhere - we thought it was completely reasonable.
"But in the end, we need to put this team in the best place possible to defend AC37."
Shoebridge also denies the successful bid was simply chosen for its commercial value.
While the monetary offer was an element of Team NZ's decision, the Spanish city already boasts infrastructure that makes it an ideal venue for racing and for the competing syndicates to base themselves during the build-up.
"It wasn't who put the most on the table, it came down to a lot of factors, but there is a certain amount that we do need to function properly to be competitive against what is an incredibly strong line-up that's already entered.
"The four final venues were very similar - I won't say identical, but they were very similar.
"Barcelona had a lot of other things going for it. It's obviously an amazing city, it's got a lot of infrastructure that's already in place.
"I'm sitting above the port right now. It's a huge port that has space for the bases to be distributed around a central area.
"The race course is directly off the beach in Barcelona - it's got great wind conditions, average of 9-15 knots - so it's got a lot of good points going for it."
Shoebridge can't guarantee future iterations of the America's Cup will return to Auckland.
While some hoped a successful offshore defence would open the doors for a subsequent return, nothing has been discussed, with an entire campaign between now and then.
"The deal with Barcelona is for AC37 - there is no discussion at this point of AC38 or the future.
"That's too far in the future and we've just got to concentrate on winning this one."
