Team New Zealand claims it has the ‘right and responsibility to choose the [America’s Cup] venue’ as war of words escalates

Toby Heppell

America's Cup Defender, Team New Zealand has responded to claims about their 'unacceptable' behaviour by Alinghi

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Following a statement from Alinghi and co-ordinated statements of support from Athena Racing and NYYC American Magic yesterday, Thursday 29 May, Team New Zealand have responded with their own statement on the 38th America’s Cup venue late Thursday UK time.

Alinghi accused Team New Zealand of selling ‘something they do not own the rights to’ after the Kiwis announced the venue for the 38th America’s Cup apparently without approval of Athena Racing, the Challenger of Record.

However, Team New Zealand claims that the Challenger of Record (CoR) signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ when they signed up to be the Challenger of Record for the next America’s Cup at the conclusion of the last event in 2024.

The statement from Team New Zealand came in two parts. The first read:

‘The Defender, as per the Deed of Gift has the right and responsibility to choose the venue and the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Challenger of Record at the conclusion of the 37th America’s Cup also gives that full right and obligation to the Defender.

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‘The Defender remains committed to work with the teams to create a partnership for the future America’s Cups.’

This was followed some hours later by a second statement which read:

‘Further clarification on today’s earlier statement from Emirates Team New Zealand regarding the agreed responsibility of the Defender on selecting the Host Venue of the 38th America’s Cup across all events including the Challenger Selection Series. The MOU with the Challenger of Record also says:

“The Venue for the Match and for the preceding CSS will be determined and announced by the AC38 Defender within eight months of the AC37 Final Race. The final dates for the Match and the preceding CSS will be announced within a further two months of the Venue announcement.”’

As the back-and-forth continues the wording of these tit-for-tat statements is starting to look increasingly legal.

The America’s Cup has long been a home to legal battles and quite how this ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ apparently signed by British Challenger of Record squares with the famous America’s Cup Deed of Gift – the 1882 primary document that governs the rules to challenge for the America’s Cup – could well be one for the lawyers to decide.

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