Moa Beer & 90 Seconds team up to bring you highlights live from the San Francisco 2013 Americas Cup
New Zealand is being called “The People’s Boat” at this year’s America’s Cup.
People all around San Francisco were interviewed and it seems that support for the Kiwis is strong from people from San Francisco, Italy, United Kingdom, and all around the world. Not just fellow Kiwis.
Reasons for supporting “The People’s Boat” vary, but the name itself and the local San Francisco support stems from the fact unlike the other teams who are bankrolled by an individual billionaire, New Zealand is party funded by the people of New Zealand in the form of government sponsorship (i.e. tax payer money), as well as a family of sponsors.
People all around San Francisco were interviewed and it seems that support for team New Zealand at the America’s Cup is strong from people from San Francisco, Italy, United Kingdom, all around the world.
People are calling Team New Zealand the people’s boat because its the only boat that’s actually backed and funded by the people of New Zealand, and the New Zealand government instead of being owned and run by billionaires.
Checkout what the people of San Francisco have to say about supporting Team New Zealand, the people’s boat!
This year’s America’s Cup has come under heavy criticism from some quarters as being an example of what can go wrong when a billionaire is allowed to set the rules – a glaring lack of challengers, a defender who is facing cheating allegations, legal battles, controversy, a disappointing lack of racing on the water. Too big, too soon, too expensive. Many people are angry, from the city of San Francisco and major sponsors who have invested heavily in hosting and supporting an event that has so far under delivered, to the sailing community and general sports fans who just want to see some close and hard fought racing on the water.
Team New Zealand (who have proven so far to be the best of the challengers by some margin) are seen by many as the potential saviours. The general belief is that a victory to Team NZ will mean that some sensibility is returned to the America’s Cup and the sporting and competitive elements will be restored. A victory to Team NZ would also be seen by many as a victory to the people, as unlike other syndicates in the regatta that have much larger budgets and are bankrolled by an individual billionaire, our boat is largely backed by the people of New Zealand in the form of government sponsorship, as well as a family of sponsors.