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When the SailGP global sports league got launched, it was a fully funded concept to create spectator-friendly racing in identical wing-powered, foiling F50 catamarans. But the support from billionaire Larry Ellison, and management from Russell Coutts, had conditions.
The prominent condition was that from the first season in 2019, the teams needed to be commercially sustainable by the end of the fifth year. While it is not clear if the pandemic has stretched this deadline beyond 2023, the reality remains that about half the teams have made that threshold.
As league promotion highlights its roster of the world’s best sailors, the league is finding that sheer talent does not translate to economic security. This hit home when the Season 2 runner-up Japan was removed from Season 3 when an entry for a new fully-funded team was accepted, and a new boat could not be built in time.
Also feeling the heat is Tom Slingsby, Driver and CEO of the Australia SailGP Team, who has failed to secure any major sponsorship deals which could put the two-time defending champion on the chopping block.
SailGP has “progressed a lot quicker than we expected,” he said, resulting in a glut of perspective, commercially independent teams approaching the league. “SailGP can’t build boats fast enough…
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