It does work two ways...the competitors get an idea how far ahead (or behind) Oracle is on boat speed. The defender has argued about being in the challenger series for as long as I remember (going well back into the monohull days) but it was never allowed. There are a couple of reasons and the most prominent is probably an argument about the number of competitors. There really aren't that many challengers and the last round robin was boring as heck with only three challengers - although the sliver suited sailors were fun to watch. There aren't THAT many challengers this time around either and one more boat in the mix does make for a more eventful series.

To offset the challenger concerns about Oracle being in the series, a point carry-over for the winner of the challenger round robin series to the finals match was added into the mix....and Oracle could win that point advantage too (it's actually a negative point for the other team but I digress).

I see the argument both ways and I don't have an issue with Oracle being in the round robin...Oracle risks showing that they have more speed and better boat handling and giving the other teams a better idea of where they need to be to take them down. That equation could just as easily go the other way and Oracle could see how far behind they are and need to improve before the finals. With either scenario, though, it serves to believe that we'll see a tightly contested finals match given how much head to head time the challenger and defender have had against each other leading up to the series.