A record year for SailGP as the league caps its fifth season on a high

by SailGP Media 10 Dec 13:57 PST

SailGP - Season in numbers - Season 5 - December 11, 2025 © SailGP

SailGP – the most exciting racing on water – has cemented its position among the world’s fastest-growing sport and entertainment properties, closing its 2025 Season with unmatched audience growth, new commercial partnerships, high-profile investors and scaled global operations.

The review marks an inflection point for the global racing championship, launched in 2019 by co-founder and CEO Sir Russell Coutts and Oracle founder and chief technology officer, Larry Ellison – celebrating five seasons of remarkable progress, as the league charts its course for 2026 and beyond.

A season defined by scale and ambition

The 2025 Season marked SailGP’s most ambitious calendar yet, featuring 12 Grand Prix events and expanding into four new venues – Portsmouth (United Kingdom), Sassnitz (Germany), Geneva (Switzerland) and Auckland (New Zealand). Twelve teams took to the start line – SailGP’s largest fleet yet – including two new nations, the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team and Mubadala Brazil, the league’s first South American entry. Brazil’s debut was historic, introducing SailGP’s first-ever female driver in two-time Olympic champion, Martine Grael.

In 2025, fans turned out in force, with more than 112,000 ticketed spectators attending in person, including 25,000 in Auckland and 20,000 in Portsmouth. 10,000 fans enjoyed world-class hospitality in SailGP’s bespoke Adrenaline Lounge, a first-of-its-kind waterside hospitality experience for partners and invited guests, while a vibrant on-shore fan experience – complete with live Après-Sail music acts, entertainment and more – contributed to an average net promoter score (NPS) of +58 across SailGP events. Standout ratings in Auckland and Sassnitz surpassed industry standards, at +80 and +72, respectively.

In returning cities such as Dubai, Sydney, San Francisco and Cádiz, nearly half of ticket purchasers were repeat SailGP attendees, while 68% of fans traveled to events from outside the host region. Across the 12-month calendar, SailGP events drove more than US $230 million in regional economic impact.

Broadcast breakthroughs and a billion-view season

SailGP’s dedicated broadcast audience soared to nearly 215 million, averaging 18 million viewers per event. The league broke its own record for single-event viewership twice – first with 21.2 million viewers for the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix in February, followed by 23 million tuning in to watch the DP World Spain Sail Grand Prix in October.

In the U.S., the Race to Abu Dhabi broadcast on CBS in November reached 3.469 million live linear viewers – the most-watched sailing race in U.S. history, surpassing the 1992 America’s Cup. The Germany Sail Grand Prix in Sassnitz drew a SailGP record 2 million viewers live on national broadcaster ZDF.

Digital and social channels surged to new heights, with total social views surpassing 1.65 billion – a 90% increase from Season 4 – alongside 20.7 million engagements with SailGP’s social channels. SailGP’s YouTube subscribers surpassed 1 million, a milestone in the championship’s industry-leading long-form content strategy, while total followers across major social platforms reached 2.7 million. SailGP’s first premium docuseries ‘Uncharted’ had viewership of more than 4 million globally, including streaming partnerships with Paramount+, Discovery, CANAL+ and others.

Commercial tailwinds drive SailGP forward

SailGP’s commercial performance accelerated in 2025, driven by the expansion of the relationship with Rolex as new Title Partner of the Championship, alongside the entry of new multi-season global league partnerships DP World, Emirates, Accor, KPMG and Fever.

Valuations of SailGP teams also continued to climb, with a number of new investors joining the global sail racing championship – from celebrity owners to established venture capital and private equity funds - with team valuations now well in excess of US$60 million.

SailGP teams welcomed new title partners BONDS (Australia), Red Bull (Italy), Mubadala (Brazil) in 2025, alongside the Germany SailGP Team’s presenting partner Deutsche Bank. ROCKWOOL’s seven-season extension with the Danish team marked a new chapter in the league’s longest-standing team partnership.

Innovation in motion: on shore, on pace

In July, SailGP officially opened its global headquarters for design, manufacturing and innovation excellence. Located in Southampton, UK, SailGP Technologies marked a US $10 million investment into the future of the global racing championship, home to more than 115 of the world’s leading designers, engineers, boat builders and composites specialists.

Throughout the season, innovation powered performance, including the introduction of titanium T-Foils to unlock a new standard of elite sail racing. Equipped with the new high-speed configuration, several teams surpassed the 100 km/h speed barrier in 2025, including a new speed record – 103.93 km/h – set by ROCKWOOL Racing in Germany.

Off the water, SailGP continued to set new global standards for sports events – with 100% of SailGP events powered entirely by clean energy. More than 10,500 young people were engaged through SailGP Inspire – delivered in partnership with Mubadala – including more than 5,300 in the UAE region alone. Total participation in SailGP Inspire now tallies 33,261 since inception.

Charting the course for 2026 – and beyond

Reflecting on the year, Andrew Thompson, SailGP Managing Director, said, “The 2025 Season has reinforced SailGP’s position as a global leader in sport and entertainment, with record audiences and world-class racing bringing our championship to new heights.”

Thompson continued, “In just five seasons, we’ve exceeded all the initial major targets set in 2019 – doubling the number of teams and events, while increasing annual audience and revenue by 12x and 20x, respectively, since Season 1.”

The journey, according to Thompson, is only the start – “As SailGP enters our next era, we are enormously grateful for our growing family of partners and teams,” he said. “Together, we’re reimagining the sport and sponsorship landscape, demonstrating SailGP’s growing influence and relevance worldwide and we have plans to continue to scale for the next years and beyond.”

SailGP returns for 2026 for the inaugural Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix presented by KPMG (January 17–18, 2026). A record 13 nations will join the startline, including new entry Artemis Racing, representing Sweden. Find out more at SailGP.com.

2025 Season Growth by Numbers

Global season and events

12 Grand Prix events delivered – SailGP’s most expansive season to date
4 new venues added: Sassnitz (Germany), Geneva (Switzerland), Portsmouth (UK), Auckland (New Zealand)
12 teams on the start line – the league’s largest fleet
2 new teams debuted: Red Bull Italy SailGP Team and Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team
First-ever female driver in league history: Martine Grael (Brazil)

Live attendance & economic impact

112,000+ total spectators across the season
25,000 ticketed fans in Auckland (January), 20,000 in Portsmouth (July)
43% repeat attendees in returning markets (Dubai, Sydney, San Francisco, Cádiz)
68% of fans traveled from outside host regions
Average 2025 Season NPS score +58 – standout ratings in Auckland (+80) and Sassnitz (+72).
Cumulative economic impact – US $230 million

Broadcast & viewership

215 million total broadcast audience for the season
18 million average viewers per event
Two record-setting events – Sydney: 21.2 million viewers; Cádiz: 23 million viewers
U.S. record: 3.469 million CBS viewers for Race to Abu Dhabi
Germany: 2 million viewers live on ZDF – SailGP's highest German audience

Digital & social growth

1.65 billion+ social views
1 million YouTube subscribers milestone
124 million+ views on SailGP’s most viral 2025 content across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

Commercial performance, innovation excellence New and expanded global partnerships:

Rolex – first championship title partner
KPMG – first digital transformation partner
Emirates – first official airline partner (three season agreement)
DP World – first global smart logistics partner (three season agreement)
Accor – first global hotel partner (three season agreement)
Fever – first official ticketing partner (three season agreement)

Other:

$10 million investment in new global innovation HQ, SailGP Technologies (Southampton, UK)
115+ technical experts now based at the facility
New titanium T-Foils introduced, enabling major performance gains
New speed record: 103.93 km/h (ROCKWOOL Racing in Germany)

Purpose & sustainability