No country has embraced the America’s Cup in recent times quite like New Zealand. In 1995, when a New Zealand boat first sped to victory in San Diego, the talismanic red socks worn by Sir Peter Blake, the team leader, became a treasured national obsession.

This sort of fervour helps to explain why, after the Pacific nation lost its grasp on the “Auld Mug” in 2003, the New Zealand government decided to put up substantial funds to win it back.

For the 2007 campaign, the government has contributed about NZ$34m, of which NZ$5m is non-refundable and the bulk has been contingent on hitting private sponsorship targets. For every NZ$1m of government money, the team has had to secure NZ$2m of private funding. Hence, its impressive list of corporate sponsors and suppliers, headed by Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, and Toyota, the carmaker.

“We were disappointed with what happened [in 2003], but we felt we had the sailors and the ability to go back and actually regain it,” says George Hickton, chief executive of Tourism New Zealand. “The government decided to put the money in as seed funding really.”

He adds that the estimated direct benefit of staging the America’s Cup in New Zealand was about NZ$450m, so if the trophy were regained in Spain, the government money would be seen as a good investment.

In the meantime, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise officials have been trying to make sure that Kiwi businesses derive as much benefit as possible from the presence of managing director Grant Dalton and his team in Valencia.

A special programme has been set up by the agency to help New Zealand exporters build relationships with key decision-makers in Europe and the Middle East. Jane Cunliffe, commissioner-general for the organisation, says the Cup provides “a very privileged and exclusive experience” in which to entertain those decision-makers, and key customers. “You might liken it to getting into the Royal Enclosure at Ascot or centre-court at Wimbledon,” she says. “Getting into a team base is very, very privileged.”

As well as so-called individual hosting, the agency has set up a number of sector-focused events, involving clusters of companies in fields such as cinema, telecommunications and transport and logistics. Ms Cunliffe argues the pulling power of these invitations is such that, for example, one New Zealand transport company expects to meet the boss of a particular English customer this year – after seven years of trying.

The agency is also sponsoring a superyacht race that Ms Cunliffe says is “all about exposing potential purchasers and their skippers to what the New Zealand marine industry can do”.

Overall, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise has invested NZ$2.5m in the programme and expects an estimated 350-400 people to be entertained. “This is very targeted, specific relationship-building,” Ms Cunliffe says. “We couldn’t get those sorts of people down to New Zealand, so this is the next best thing. While we all want the [competition] in New Zealand, it is very useful to have it here from that perspective.”

Government support for the venture was underlined last month when Helen Clark, the prime minister, arrived in Valencia for the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup. “I believe New Zealand’s challenge for the America’s Cup is unique, because it has a whole nation united behind it,” she said.

Lead sponsor Emirates, meanwhile, suggests that the government’s involvement has also been helpful in ensuring its goals for the sponsorship are met. “From our point of view, it’s good that the New Zealand government is involved, because one of the reasons we sponsored the boat was to try to get closer to our passengers in New Zealand,” explains a spokesperson for the airline. “We had looked at the Volvo round-the-world race before, but this was an opportunity that seemed to gel with our objectives, not just giving us television coverage but also the community relations angle as well.”

So, should we expect the airline to stick by the team for another America’s Cup? That, it seems, may depend in part on the boat’s performance in Valencia. As the spokesperson says: “The thing about Emirates is we like to be with a winner.”

David Owen is the FT’s former sport editor