They've always wanted a multi-challenger event...just not under lopsided rules put up by SNG (the yacht club that represents Alinghi)where they control the management of the challenger series (and get to compete in it), the management of the cup matches, the selection the arbitration committee, the selection of the race committee, and completely unfettered ability to disqualify a competitor.

The challenger of record has equal rights in determining the protocol of the match but CNEV (spain) was a fabricated "yacht club" that SNG / Alinghi urged and who filed the first challenge. CNEV just wanted the event to return to Spain ($) and basically either didn't care to, or as part of the deal, let SNG have their way with the protocal.

Enter GGYC (BMW/Oracle); arguing that the CNEV challenge was illegal because they weren't a bonified yacht club sought to become challenger of record because they wanted to fight for a fair protocal - one that a challenger might have a chance to win under. The legal argument that was fought was over one technicality that CNEV clearly failed to meet about "having for it's annual regatta" when CNEV had never had a regatta....they also didn't have any members, no boats, etc. There were other ways that CNEV didn't meet the requisite items in the deed, but this was the easiest and cleanest to argue legally.

The real intent of the Deed was for a bonified challenger, one with stake holders and experience would come forth to challenge for the cup and they would negotiate terms for the event on equal footing. The challenger should have incentive to argue on behalf of themselves - which CNEV did not have and did not do.

When GGYC / BMW Oracle filed their challenge with SNG/Alinghi, as per the deed, they had to stipulate what kind of yacht they want to challenge under in simple terms that are specified in the deed. Long before the court cases started, they filed a challenge after CNEV's and defined a 90'x90' sloop rigged boat and a draft as specified in the deed. They explained to SNG that they felt CNEV's challenge was not valid but they would drop their case if SNG modified the protocal and gave them a list of 10 concerns with the protocal that was drafted.

They challenge boat was defined so to avoid the craziness that we saw in the 80's when Dennis Conner sailed against New Zealand in the only other DoG match the cup has ever seen. New Zealand specified a boat of 90' and a particular beam (30' or something?) but never thought that the Americans would show up with a 60' x 30' catamaran against their monster monohull...so we started this round with a challenge that could clearly be a multihull.

The other issue was that the deed specifies that the challenger of record specifies the boat and the time of the event, the defender specifies the place. The timing of the event cannot be within 10 months of the challenge. Sooo, seeking to speed things along and leverage a quick resolution, GGYC filed their challenge with a 10 month window...that's why they built their tri-maran in such a rush - they had to be ready if SNG was to be ready and I presume they hoped that a short time to develop a boat of this magnitude may give them a technical edge (my assumption here). The short lead time would also certainly speed the resolution of this thing so we could get back to a multiple challenger series quickly before most teams ran out of sponsorship money...I guess you can pick your explanation that fits your opinion better! They really did build that thing in an astonishingly short time period.

The courts finally ruled that CNEV was not a valid challenger as specified in the deed and that Alinghi was wrong by "accepting" the challenge. So GGYC/BMW-Oracle are now the challenger of record and SNG has the option to either deal with them an negotiate a multi-challenger (or any other kind of series) or meet them on the water under the very simple three race series that the Deed specifies if the challenger and defender are unable to agree on the terms of the match.