The process is difficult to understand for a normal person interested in sport. The America's Cup arbitration tribunal deducted a point from the US syndicate One World before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup on 1 October.
And it didn't even have one yet. It's like sending Borussia Dortmund into the Bundesliga opener with a 1-0 deficit.
The reason for the unusual punishment is the conflict over the transfer of opposing design information that has been smouldering for almost a year. The co-favourite Seattle Syndicate, for which many New Zealand Cup winners from 2000 work, has admitted to holding design plans from Team New Zealand and two other opposing teams.
The information came to One World unintentionally, was not very useful and was also not used, the Americans defended themselves after the case was made public by the statements of former One World and Team New Zealand employee Sean Reeves. Reeves is currently testifying before a civil court in Seattle. He is accused by One World of offering secret design data to various teams.
One World spokesman Gary Wright thanked the arbitration tribunal for the "thorough investigation" and accepted the penalty. Because it could have been even worse. An exclusion from the regattas was certainly within the realms of possibility. However, the five retired judges (two New Zealanders, two Europeans, one Australian) took a positive view of the fact that One World had voluntarily brought the case before the arbitration tribunal. Nevertheless, the deduction of points is not necessarily a light penalty. It relates to the first two rounds, in which the nine challengers compete twice against each other. (Format under: http://www.lvcup.com/sitedata/insert_corrige.pdf )
Each victory is rewarded with one point. A deduction is therefore equivalent to a defeat. Although this will probably not eliminate co-favourite One World from the race - only one boat is eliminated after the first two rounds - the strategically important place in the top four for the quarter-finals is at risk. Nevertheless, billionaire Craig McCaw's team is visibly relieved that this issue has been settled. The legal fees could have been used to order a new rig.
The arbitration tribunal's decision took so long because it did not want to rule before all syndicates had agreed not to take legal action against its decisions. A declaration to this effect was ratified a few days ago.
