AC36: Grant Dalton's SOS to the NZL government for funding to pay salaries revealed

AUCKLAND – Team New Zealand's SOS to the Government for $5 million following their America's Cup win included a plea from boss Grant Dalton that "it would be great to tell the team" he could "pay their salary after next week". Text messages, emails and letters released to the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act (OIA) showed Dalton requested the funding "as soon as possible in order to secure our core team". "It would be great to tell the team I can pay their salary after next week," Dalton wrote in a letter to Simon Bridges, Minister for Economic Development, on June 29 - just two days after Emirates Team New Zealand lifted the Cup from Oracle Team USA. "We have innovated ahead of the biggest and richest in the world and we have done it on a significantly smaller budget. Our small budget was timed to get us through to the final and the contracts with our team all end next week," Dalton's letter read. –Ophelia Buckleton, staff reporter, writing in today's (Sunday) edition of the New Zealand Herald. Full story.

Photo: Chris Cameron / Photosport via the NZH.