Is the America's Cup still important to New Zealanders?

There was a crap ton of anger in New Zealand when Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton made the decision to take the America's Cup away from Auckland and put the races in Barcelona.

To me, it just made financial sense and this is a huge event. It's gone to where its biggest market is, and its biggest market is in Europe. New Zealand unfortunately lives in the worst time zone there is for sporting events in the world.

I look at Dalton and I know he's a polarising figure. I personally get on with Grant and had the pleasure of his company during the last edition of the Cup here in Auckland, but I think it just makes sense and I am getting excited about seeing what this Cup can offer.

The challenging teams have gotten better, the designers got better - is Team New Zealand going to be able to not only run this event in Barcelona, but also defend the America's Cup? It's a huge question.

But it does raise a point for me about ambition around these events. We had the SailGP in Christchurch canceled due to a dolphin, which was strange. We've got an Auckland council that is run like a shambles, including its event arm, and obviously we have an economy that cannot sustain big investment in events like the America's Cup.

If you have a look at where we're at economically in this country, do you really blame Team New Zealand for taking the event elsewhere, where others are going to prop it up financially rather than the taxpayer here?

We won't see the real deal until October, when the challenger is found and they take on Team New Zealand. But to me, that is a team that says, 'we have got everything in place to defend the America's Cup'.

Will it ever come back to New Zealand? I don't know. But this is going to be the biggest edition of the America's Cup in its 173-year history.

After talking to some people on the ground in Barcelona, it sounds like it will be an event to remember - spectacular in every way in a spectacular part of the world.

Is it a shame not to have it in New Zealand? Yes, it is. But is this the cold, hard economic reality of global sport? I think so.

Listen to Scotty & Izzy's interview with Grant Dalton below: