Team New Zealand have been told to stay away from a meeting in London next week between potential challengers and America's Cup holders Oracle Team USA.
Representatives from Luna Rossa, Artemis, Ben Ainslie Racing and a French challenge are set to meet with Oracle and America's Cup organisers on Tuesday to discuss details of the next regatta in 2017. It follows a joint statement issued by the four European teams last week, in which they reiterated their support for their event and intent to enter regardless of venue.
After a week of bruising publicity the release was a boost for Oracle, helping quell suggestion the challengers would band together and attempt to hold the event to ransom following the withdrawal of the original challenger of record, Team Australia.
Emirates Team New Zealand was a notable absentee from the press release - a move that has angered head of the America's Cup Events Authority, Russell Coutts.
Coutts told the Associated Press the Defender wants to work with the teams "to further define an event based on the published protocol"and when he heard from another team that the Kiwis didn't want to want to proceed on that basis, "I rang them up and said, 'It's best that you not come.'"
