SailGP: The $100m-per-team sailing league looking to join British summer of sport
With SailGP back on these shores later this month, how is the league going about becoming a staple of the British summer?
The British summer of sport is an extraordinary thing; Henley, Wimbledon, the Boat Race, Queen’s, Test cricket, The Open, Prem Rugby’s final, the British Grand Prix and more.
But there is another sport looking to etch its name into the must-attend roster of events: SailGP.
Now into its sixth season, and having weaned itself off billionaire Larry Ellison’s backing at the end of last year, SailGP is in expansion mode.
And managing director Andrew Thompson tells City PM that the league has no plans to slow down.
He says a 14th team, based in the Middle East, is set to join the series next year “and then beyond that, we’d be looking at further expansion for season eight, so we’re looking at adding two new teams to 2028.”
Thompson added: “We’re in the market for those right now, and two more in 2028 which will take the fleet to 16. We are looking at Mexico, talking to China, looking at Japan, India and South Korea.
“The idea is they will be privately owned – it’s a straight process. We’d be looking at anywhere between $75m and $100m [franchise price], and we’ve obviously seen that growth over the last few seasons.”
SailGP on its foils
Former McLaren and Everton investors MSP Sports Capital snapped up the New Zealand team in recent weeks, ending the central ownership of teams across SailGP. Other investors across the fleet include the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman.
Teams in the new Premier Jumping League have been sold for $50m, while a Prem Rugby club will set you back slightly more – so SailGP is now in a battle with these markets as interest in investing into the sporting asset class continues to surge.
“By 2030,” Thompson says, “we want to be seen as one of the top sports properties in the world. We’re not quite at the valuations of a Formula 1 team, but it’s not to say that we wouldn’t grow further and be pushing that in the future.”
Part of that growth, it appears, will come from returning audiences at key events. Britain has always been a sailing nation, with the America’s Cup a trophy the nation has longed to win.
But Emirates GBR – Britain’s SailGP boat – counts Sir Ben Ainsley as its figurehead, having turned the waters off the coast of the nation into a sea of gold during London 2012.
Since its inception, SailGP’s British leg has been in Portsmouth. Taking place at the end of the month, organisers hope to capitalise on its scheduling in a busy summer of sport – and the chances of good weather – to turn the two-day racing event into a staple of July.
Future of British summer
“The British sporting summer is the best in the world,” Thompson adds. “It’d be a privilege for us to take a place in that calendar, and that’s definitely something that we’re looking at.
“All of our events – like going back to Venice year after year and doing long-term deals – are so that we can consistently have the event on the same weekend in each market, and I think we placed ourselves neatly – we did obviously look at all the other sports.
“The Open golf is a weekend before, Wimbledon is before that, Silverstone is before that, so we’ve actually kind of coalesced on quite a nice weekend within that calendar.
“It’s the first weekend of the summer holidays so hopefully there’s more families down on the south coast too.”
SailGP has come a long way since its launch six seasons ago, and its ability to garner the interest it has done from private investors is admirable. The next phase is to go truly global, and that’s no easy feat.