Alinghi invites BMW Oracle to negotiate terms

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) -- America's Cup holder Alinghi on Tuesday invited BMW Oracle to Geneva to negotiate the terms for the next Cup.

The Swiss champion's home yacht club, the Societe Nautique Geneve, is hopeful that American counterpart Golden Gate Yacht Club, BMW Oracle's home club, will accept a face-to-face meeting next week "to seek mutual consent to the terms" of the 33rd edition of the sailing classic.

BMW Oracle said last week that it remained committed to negotiating a conventional race with Alinghi instead of a one-off series between the two syndicates.

GGYC was still waiting to receive the invite and said it could not comment, although it did reiterate that it had already asked its Swiss opponent for a meeting.

"Officials are prepared to meet immediately with SNG/Alinghi to discuss ideas for achieving mutual consent," GGYC commodore Marcus Young wrote to his SNG counterpart Pierre-Yves Firmenich in a letter dated April 7. "We suggest a meeting early next week at a mutually convenient venue."

Young also suggested that the location of the venue be kept private.

It would be the first meeting between dueling billionaires Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi and Oracle head Larry Ellison since September.

Alinghi retained the America's Cup in July 2007, but the event then became mired in court action over the validity of the official challenger, which has the responsibility of negotiating terms. A New York court finally ruled that GGYC was the valid challenger on April 2.

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