America's Cup challengers slam Team NZ's lack of 'transparency'

Team New Zealand has quashed accusations from two challengers it lacked "transparency" in naming Naples to host the next America's Cup.

Ainslie's Athena Racing sparked a legal war of words debate by saying barriers remained to agreeing to a "fair sporting protocol" for the event and that confirmation of the Italian city as 2027 host was "premature, at best".

Another challenger, American Magic, also cited "transparency" concerns and said their participation in the 2027 event was in serious doubt.

Athena Racing represent the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, the Challenger of Record for the 38th America's Cup and negotiates the event protocol on behalf of all challengers to make the event fair and commercially viable.

Athena statement

In a statement, it said Team NZ are guilty of an "ongoing lack of transparency" after seven months of negotiations.

"Despite recent progress being made, significant barriers remain," the statement said.

"Typically, a host agreement has only followed the publication of an agreed protocol. In the absence of an agreed protocol, it is therefore difficult to understand what exactly has been agreed between Team New Zealand and the Government of Italy as the sporting framework and details of the event do not yet exist.

"Any hosting agreement will bind challengers to financial and organisational obligations, as well as potential liabilities, making its disclosure fundamental to teams' participation and commitment to the 38th America's Cup."

Athena Racing said it had no reason to doubt Naples would be a fine venue, it felt "transparency and cooperation between the defender and all challengers is vital for the Cup's future and therefore the recent announcements from the defender are premature, at best."

American Magic followed up with its own statement, saying Team NZ had been "unwilling to commit to the transparency and cooperation necessary" ahead of the Naples announcement.

The syndicate which represented the New York Yacht Club at last year's regatta in Barcelona, said it will reconsider its involvement.

"Without the meaningful changes they (Athena) are advocating, it is difficult to see how NYYC American Magic can participate in the 38th America's Cup."

Team NZ respond

Team NZ dismissed the claims as "unreasonable" saying they're working closely with all teams to strengthen the future of the event.

It released a copy of the full current protocol for the sake of transparency.

In a statement, Team NZ said it had gone further than any other defender by working in conjunction with all teams in the development of the protocol.

"The latest version of the Protocol went back to the Challenger of Record Athena Racing, 10 days ago, prior to the announcement of Naples," the statement said.

"The Defender has not had any feedback back from the Challenger of Record on the latest version other than acknowledgement it had been well received by the teams.

"However, the Defender now feels due to the unreasonable allegations that have been levelled at it by Athena Racing and American Magic, that it is appropriate to publicly release the latest draft version of the 38th America's Cup Protocol today as an illustration of complete transparency."

Team NZ also said it hadn't breached the venue and host agreement.

It said it was the responsibility of the defender to secure a host venue by 19 June, giving all teams two years to prepare for the regatta.

"In contrast to the statement by Athena Racing, all teams have already been offered full access and transparency to the Host Venue Agreement (HVA), which was signed just last week, upon their signing of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

"The Defender is yet to receive the returned NDA's from Athena Racing as Challenger of Record."

Alinghi out?

Swiss syndicate Alinghi said last month said it won't contest the next regatta, also citing transparency concerns, although that was unrelated to the Naples announcement, which had yet to be made.

"We would have liked to have seen more accountability, more transparency, and new opportunities to compete not only individually, but also as a group," it's team statement said.

"In this way, all together, we could have produced a commercially viable event that would have attracted global television coverage, viewers and sponsors."

Team NZ chief executive Grant Dalton this week said he questioned whether Alinghi was serious about pulling out of the next challenge and suggested it could yet line up at the start line in Naples.