America's Cup: "With great disappointment" - the Cup exit for Alinghi Red Bull Racing

174 years after its premiere, the America's Cup has once again run into rough waters. The defenders are running out of strong challengers. Following the withdrawal of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team Ineos Britannia as a result of internal disputes with CEO and skipper Sir Ben Ainslie and his team Athena Racing Ltd, another prominent Cup contender and his team have pulled out.

America's Cup: no agreement with the defenders

Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi Red Bull Racing team has been unable to find a basis in negotiations with the New Zealand defenders that would make a follow-up campaign by the Swiss racing team appear sensible from their point of view.

The "buck stops here" with the Kiwis, with whom no agreement seemed possible from the perspective of the Swiss in the struggle for the future Cup course. While there was initially no detailed press release on the matter, YACHT online has received a brief statement from the Swiss team. It reads:

"Despite all our efforts, we - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - were unable to reach an agreement with the defending America's Cup champion about the future of the event. We would have liked to see a greater sense of responsibility, more transparency and new opportunities to act not just individually but as a group. In this way, we could all have worked together to create a commercially viable event that would have attracted worldwide television coverage, spectators and sponsors.

It is therefore with great disappointment that we have begun to properly disband the Alinghi Red Bull Racing Team." Alinghi Red Bull Racing

The brands that have formed this team will always be part of America's Cup history and the last few years have been an incredible journey. We thank every team member, every sponsor and every supporter for their trust, belief and commitment during this time."

Fewer teams instead of more for the America's Cup

Now that Emirates Team New Zealand itself has just to cope with the departure of its star helmsman Peter Burling another prominent team is now missing on the way to the 38th America's Cup. The sadness and disappointment of individual team members can be seen in the conversation that this withdrawal was by no means planned long in advance. Whether the demands of the Swiss were excessive or were not met due to the Kiwis' own interests is difficult to judge without the details of the dispute.

The decision by America's Cup team Alinghi Red Bull Racing is in stark contrast to the defence team's repeatedly stated intention to bring more teams back into the Cup boat in future. New Zealand team boss Grant Dalton had hoped otherwise after the victory of his Emirates Team New Zealand in Barcelona. In October, Dalton had said: "We know that we (ed.: with the America's Cup) have a number of valuable assets that we want to develop further."

Dalton also clarified this statement after winning the Cup duel against Ineos Britannia, saying: "We are open to suggestions as to how we can best achieve this with one or more venues that can enhance the 38th America's Cup with a greater global presence, more teams and overall better expansion opportunities." One of the reasons for leaving Barcelona, the most recent Cup venue, was that it could not accommodate more teams than the last six.

Setbacks on the road to the Cup future

The extent to which the brief and, for many team members and fans, disappointing farewell statement from Alinghi Red Bull Racing relates to Dalton's statement is also shown by this sentence said by Grant Dalton after the 37th America's Cup: "Following initial discussions with the teams, there is a shared desire to continue the commercial growth of the America's Cup in line with other leading global sports." It is precisely this hoped-for opportunity that the Swiss no longer see after their negotiations with the New Zealanders.

As the new Cup protocol and the future venue are to be announced by the defenders in just over two months' time, it cannot be ruled out that the port for the 38th America's Cup has already been found - and that this choice may not suit all the teams' own wishes and plans. The defenders are expected to provide further details soon.

This is the second withdrawal from the America's Cup for racing team owner Ernesto Bertarelli. After the two Cup victories in 2003 and 2007 and the unequal "Deed of Gift" match lost to BMW Oracle Racing in 2010, the Swiss had already withdrawn from the Cup stage once before. The comeback was planned to be more sustainable and long-term than it has now been with one entry.

The Kiwis have already had to cope with one setback of their own - they have had to reorganise their crew following the departure of star helmsman Peter Burling: