America's Cup - ACEA sit tight on Arbitration Panel secret Decision

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 20 Oct 2016 America's Cup Events Authority have again refused to comment on the Decision of the Arbitration Panel Hearing into the withdrawal of the America's Cup Qualifiers from Auckland in 2017.

The Hearing was held in secret in July 2016 in London. The Decision was announced in late August to the Parties - America's Cup Events Authority, the commercial and marketing arm of America's Cup Holder and Cup Trustee, Golden Gate Yacht Club.

On March 31, 2015, four teams voted to change the AC62 class, which had been announced as the America's Cup yacht, nine months earlier. The Teams voting, through their clubs, for a change were Oracle Team USA, Artemis Racing, Land Rover BAR and Groupama Team France. Against were Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand. (See Change and Signatures below.)

Luna Rossa withdrew immediately after the vote, and ACEA advised that they were withdrawing the Qualifiers from Auckland. Emirates Team New Zealand advised they were referring the matter to the Arbitration Panel, which was not established until eight months later. The Hearing did not get underway for 15 months.

On June 9, 2016, a few weeks before the commencement of the Arbitration Hearing, four of the teams, again through their clubs voted for a Protocol change to keep the 'Proceedings' of the Arbitration Panel secret. The move was a departure from the practice of previous America's Cups where decisions of the Arbitration Panel or International Jury were made public at key points in the Hearing or once a Decision had been made. The teams, via their clubs, who wanted the secrecy of Proceedings were Oracle Team USA, Land Rover BAR, Groupama Team France, and new entry Softbank Team Japan. Artemis Racing is not shown as having signed or not - the Swedish team are not shown as signing the other two changes in the batch. (See Change and Signatures below.)

America's Cup Commissioner Harvey Schiller left the organisation around the third week of August 2016. Schiller's signature appears on the Qualifier Agreement released by Team NZ in April 2015. His exit and the timing of it was claimed to be unrelated to the Arbitration Panel Decision.

In response to queries from long-time America's Cup correspondent Bernie Wilson of major international news cooperative Associated Press, ACEA maintained the line of confidentiality over the Decision which has been in favour of Emirates Team New Zealand.

ACEA's line in the matter is that they are just following the wishes of the majority of the teams, and the changed Protocol.

Bernie Wilson writes:

America's Cup officials released the full schedule for the 2017 regatta in Bermuda while continuing to remain silent about an arbitration panel decision that reportedly went against organizers and could cost them several million dollars.

Racing is scheduled to begin May 26 with the double round robin qualifiers. For the first time, the defender, Oracle Team USA, will compete against challengers before the America's Cup match itself.

If the challenger that wins the qualifiers advances to the match, it will begin with a one-point advantage. Likewise, if Oracle, owned by software billionaire Larry Ellison, wins the qualifiers, it will begin the match with a one-point lead.

The qualifiers originally were to be sailed in Auckland, New Zealand, but were pulled after Emirates Team New Zealand supported another syndicate in a dispute over an unprecedented midcourse downsizing of the boats.

Emirates Team New Zealand, the hard-luck loser of the 2013 America's Cup, took its case to the arbitration panel.

Organizers have attempted to keep the panel's deliberations shrouded in secrecy, with violators facing draconian penalties. However, Sail-World.com, citing four sources it didn't identify, reported last month that the panel ruled in favor of ETNZ against the America's Cup Event Authority, and that a penalty phase has yet to be held. Since it's too late to schedule a regatta in New Zealand, Team New Zealand likely is seeking to recoup the millions of dollars in government funding it lost when the qualifier was pulled from Auckland.

San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, the cup's trustee, and a majority of challengers, excluding the Kiwis, voted in June to prohibit teams and individuals from discussing or even confirming the existence of a dispute before the arbitration panel. Doing so could draw sanctions including censure and a fine of up to $1 million.

On Tuesday, an America's Cup spokesman cited the confidentiality rules in declining to say whether there has been a decision.

Russell Coutts, who heads both the event authority and Oracle Team USA, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the panel's decision. Coutts also is one of three people with Oracle connections on the GGYC's five-member America's Cup Committee.

For the rest of Bernie Wilson's story click here