It’s morning in Auckland when Doug Howlett takes my call. A record try scorer for the All Blacks, Howlett won both the Heineken Cup and Magners League with Munster, before captaining the province.

After a shoulder injury forced his retirement, Howlett showed his business acumen by becoming head of commercial and marketing with Munster Rugby before returning to New Zealand in late 2019. Howlett is not taking my call to talk about rugby, but his love for another sport – sailing.

Howlett, like most New Zealanders, has been in lockdown in his home country since 2020. But he said one of the few sporting bright spots of that period was being able to witness the 36th America’s Cup, with the sailing event contested on the inner Hauraki Gulf off the coast of his hometown in Auckland.

“It was an incredible competition,” he said. “It embraces everybody. It is much more than just a sporting event. It was four years in the making, supported thousands of jobs, transformed our waterfront, filled our restaurants, hotels, and bars, and was watched by over 940 million.”

Howlett said he had seen the impact of the Cup on New Zealand, and he predicted it could have an even bigger impact on his former home in Cork, which is being hotly tipped to be named this week as the host of the 2024 America’s Cup. 

“The timing is great for Ireland,” he said. “There is a huge amount of support for it internationally as a host. Cork has the second natural largest harbour in the world. It is a national amphitheatre for this event, and there is nothing like it anywhere in the world other than Sydney.”

Howlett said he knew there was considerable support in the sailing community in New Zealand for Ireland to host the 2024 America’s Cup. “Hand on heart there are really strong ties between our two countries,” he said. “We both have a rich sailing history and are both island nations, so the conditions are perfect.

“Of the three finalists competing to host the America’s Cup Ireland has an incredible chance that may not come again.”

As the most recent winning team, Emirates Team New Zealand gains the right to organise the next event including setting the rules and picking the host location. Ireland is in the final three countries being considered and is up against Spain and Saudi Arabia to host the event. New Zealand hosted the event in 2021 but passed on hosting it in 2024.

Legacy over losses

An economic report into the 2021 America’s Cup event found that Auckland only got back 85 cent for every NZ$1 spent, and just 72 cent when considering financial returns only. The analysis found Auckland lost NZ$91.6 million (€55.2m) when intangibles like social, cultural and environmental costs and benefits were factored in, and lost NZ$145.8m from a purely financial standpoint.

But the report said Covid-19 had been a major cause of this financial loss, as New Zealand had largely closed its borders to all but a small number of international visitors. Howlett said the event had provided an important confidence boost as well as an economic stimulus to his country during a time of an unprecedented pandemic. “We had 2.5 million visitors into the city when the competition was on. This was in the grips of Covid-19,” he said.

“There weren’t any overseas visitors so of course, that hit us. But it created such excitement and was a huge morale boost. There wasn’t a conversation that was going on that didn’t touch in some form on the America’s Cup.”

By 2024, Howlett predicted Cork would be ideally positioned to host the event as the world would be eager for travel as the pandemic ended. “There is no getting away from it that Covid impacted us, but Cork would be in three years’ time,” he said.

“We had 170 superyachts due to come in. These are boats that come in at close to NZ$7 million or NZ$10 million a pop and would be expected to bring a lot of money into our economy. But we only had 10 arrive. We ran this event locally without any visitors from abroad, so the return wasn’t bad at all. The legacy piece the America’s Cup has left behind is intangible as kids’ participation in water sports is up, the waterfront has been transformed, and we now have amazing sailing facilities that can be used for generations.”

Economic impacts and engagement

Doug Howlett said he was aware of a political controversy surrounding the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney who is seen as a champion of the event, as well as criticism from some politicians over its cost.

However, Howlett said he believed the long-term impact of the event would justify its costs. He said the 2024 event would also include female and youth competitions, something he said would further broaden its impact. An unpublished cost-benefit analysis by EY says it will cost €150 million to host the event, consisting of a €100 million investment in infrastructure, and €50 million on hosting the actual event. EY estimates the economic activity generated for Ireland to be between €400 million and €500 million.

“This isn’t an elitist event,” Howlett said. “Racing is just one part of it. It is a festival with music and food that will fill hotels and restaurants and impact the entire Munster region in particular and Ireland. Ireland has an incredible opportunity this year.

“For sailing, it is a great chance to grow the sport in Europe and engage more people – so it works both ways. The other thing to say is this is going to be a very green race; all the support vehicles will use hydrogen-based green fuel so it will fit very well with where Ireland wants to go. I sailed when I was in Ireland and spent quite a bit of time in Cork harbour. It is beautiful and an absolutely amazing place to sail that the world needs to know about.”

Was Howlett any good as a sailor? He pauses for the moment. “I was a member of a club. I had a boat, and what I did was a form of sailing! We can’t all be good at everything can we?” he laughed. “But I can say this.  From my time in Cork, I know there is a big sailing community there. This is a chance to inspire our next generation of sailors… More children are learning how to sail than ever before in New Zealand – and that can happen too in Ireland. There is no reason Cork cannot win this.”