Russell Coutts on SailGP future and stellar price growth over the past 18 months
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 16 Jul 2024 11:56 AEST
The SailGP F50 catamaran fleet in action in front of the San Francisco Skyline on Race Day 2 of the SailGP Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco, USA © Jed Jacobsohn for SailGP
SailGP CEO Russell Coutts opened up on the future of SailGP in an interview on CNBC ahead of the SailGP Grand Final in San Francisco.
Created in 2018/19, the League was hit like all other sports events by the COVID pandemic in 2020/21, but kept sailing - and has emerged stronger with strong interest and escalating investment in the existing and new teams.
Speaking with CNBC's Deidre Bosa, the 1984 Olympic Gold medalist and multiple America's Cup winner was asked how the League planned to move to the next level and become part of mainstream sports, and lift above its current level.
"We've seen just incredible growth over the last six months with new teams coming on stream. We just announced a team from Brazil. We've got another announcement coming up in September - which is another exciting team."
"As we expand into those markets, we're drawing more fans to see what is an exciting racing product."
"It isn't just the avid sailing fan that's following SailGP. Maybe 10% of our audience are the racing fans," he explained.
The past six months has been notable for the number of teams being purchased by investors, to the point where only four of the 11 teams receive some League funding assistance.
In contrast to the America's Cup, Coutts says the interest is not coming from billionaires, but investment funds like the Avenue Sports Fund headed by Marc Lasry who led a group to buy Team USA for $35 million, back in late November, 2023.
"I always thought that the teams would be would gain in value over time," Coutts remarked. "But, I didn't think it would happen this early. We were selling teams at $5 - 10 million. Then the first European team sold for $20 million then the American team sold for $35million. But now we've sales at $45 million. I think by the time we're halfway through Season 5 I don't think it's unreasonable to think we might see $80 million sales."
Coutts says the interest is not just for team, but in the SailGP League itself. "But the league's not for sale, right now" he said.
For the full interview: