[Excerpt nzherald.co.nz] MADRID - US challenger Oracle reacted positively to the announcement of an agreement on new rules for the next America's Cup that may help resolve its legal battle with Swiss champions Alinghi."They were some positive things, we are definitely making progress, we are getting to a point where we agree to most of the points," Oracle's New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts said.
Alinghi representatives met in Geneva yesterday with 10 of the 12 challengers for the 33rd edition of the yachting's most prestigious event.
Alinghi announced afterwards that agreement had been reached on new rules on the nominations for the competition's Arbitration Panel, the Race Committee and for other senior positions.
"A large majority of the teams entered in the 33rd America's Cup today achieved another milestone in the process of getting the event back on the water," Alinghi said.
But both teams say they want to avoid the face-off, and Coutts said Oracle backed Alinghi's proposal last month for a 2010 Cup using a new and faster but cheaper class of yacht than the AC90s which competed in the 2007 competition.
If it wins the court case, Oracle, as the official "challenger of record", will try to negotiate a deal with Alinghi to this effect, said Coutts.
He said Oracle boss Larry Ellison intended to speak to his counterpart at Alinghi, Ernesto Bertarelli, about continuing discussions on a possible compromise solution.
New talks between the two billionaires, who met in late September, is considered essential to finding a solution to the row which has paralyzed the oldest continuously held competition in sport.
Coutts also said he had "good discussion" last weekend with Alinghi skipper and fellow New Zealander Brad Butterworth on how the dispute could be resolved. - AFP
3 comments:
The source is not the NZ Herald Tribune.
it published this news yesterday: BMW Oracle dit qu'il y a des choses positives. The orignal is AFP then La tribune de Geneve.
Bravo for your blog. It's great.
Matthieu
But yet, BMWO was still excluded from the meeting (along with ML). Doesn't seem like there is much progress after all. Why would Alinghi negotiate on 2 fronts with 2 groups and keep both discussions confidential?
To Texlex.
Sorry to sound too obvious but looks like you didn't get the point: these Competitors Meetings are MEETINGS organised by and for the 33rd AC COMPETITORS.
BOR and ML are not current competitors since they have publicly declined wanting to be one, because they keep arguing that even though 12 teams are happy with the re-launching of the AC, they still think they are the ones who must decide about the new protocol of the AC.
BOR and ML: enough with the talking!
Do you really want to help the AC?
Do you want your voice to be heard and considered?
Then join the 33rd AC and work along with the rest of the teams!
Regarding the confidentiality: it's logic that the new boat and event is a confidential subject that only matters to those teams that have decided to work together and join forces for the new AC.
My mother wasn't invited either and she's not complaining like a 9 years old kid!
Stingray (the real one)
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