Russell Coutts: Growing the sport

Sailing has a fan problem, says Sir Russell Coutts, CEO of the SailGP sports league. Wile other sports have embraced fans as essential to its success, sailing seems to still be reluctant to do the same.

“To have longevity, the sport’s got to be more conscious about marketing itself better and being more fan-friendly,” notes Coutts.

“I was at the Olympic Games in Marseille earlier this year and no spectators were allowed within 75 metres of the racecourse. Even the fan zone on shore was created almost as an afterthought instead of the whole thing being choreographed so that you’re engaging with the fans. It was as if the fans were an unwanted distraction.”

Olympic organizers aren’t the only ones missing a trick.

“Many of the other sailing properties and products seem to think that it’s a big show watching boats dock out and dock in,” he says. “Imagine if you’re watching motorsports and you only saw the car leaving the garage and coming back into the garage. People would say, ‘Are you crazy?’”

Fan engagement has been central to the league since Coutts and Oracle founder Larry Ellison first launched the competition in 2019, to a healthy dose of skepticism.

Fast-forward five years and the recently completed season enjoyed live audience numbers of around 20 million dedicated television audiences for its events in New York and San Francisco.

“These are just the people watching the actual race,” Coutts says. “That’s by far the highest audience numbers I’ve ever seen in the sport, and they are not only avid sailing fans.”

They are racing fans.

“And that is how I would describe SailGP to people – it’s among the best in racing that just happens to be on water.

“In my opinion, sailing has had an almost unwelcoming attitude toward fans – ‘keep those spectator boats away, keep them out of it. We don’t want them to see our race committee operations in any detail’.

“The reality is, the closer you are the better the content. It’s what people are interested in. The moment you try to fudge something… the fans see through that and that’s when they switch off.”

Aside from SailGP, Coutts can be found in a coach boat near Manly Sailing Club – getting back to the grassroots of the sport. He set up the Russell Coutts Sailing Foundation in 2017, with its base at the club to the north of Auckland, New Zealand.

Recently Coutts has been heavily involved with the O’pen Skiff class, coaching them in the build-up to and during the last two world championships in Italy where the Kiwi kids enjoyed a record number of entries and stellar results.

“I’m overseas most of the year but I organize my diary so I can dedicate at least one event per year to the young sailors, just so I can stay connected,” Coutts says. “We set up the foundation and we fund it, but other people are doing a fabulous job running it.

“We’re quite proud of the fact that when we started it, the club had about 17 members; most of them social members. Now the club is thriving with roughly 200 kids a year going through its programs and the club is about to host the Moth World Champs.”

Finding solutions to dwindling fleets and declining membership numbers is another thing Coutts is increasingly passionate about.

“You have to recognize the barriers to participation and sailing is an expensive sport. Even at youth level, some of the boats cost $10,000 as a starting point and that’s a lot of money for most families. That’s what Manly Sailing Club has done well – they’ve identified those barriers, and
they’ve had a shot at addressing them.”

Another obstacle is the notion that sailing programs must follow a pathway of intense regattas from a very young age, Coutts says.

“Even if your club only wanted to train sailors for the Olympics or the elite side of the sport, the evidence supports the opposite of that view. There are so many people at the top of the sport today who weren’t prolific junior sailors. Many of them didn’t even start sailing before 13 or were competing seriously in other sports at that age.

“Kids develop differently. Some are late developers, and you might not see their true ability until they are 21 or 22. Yet, we are judging how someone is performing in an Optimist at 12 or 13…

“Perhaps the pathways should be a lot more about participation at a young age. Significant factors in the youth classes are more about the size of the kid, their access to funding to buy new sails and new boats as opposed to whether the kid’s got some talent.”

Source: https://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/news/straight-numbers-game-coutts-innovation-new-pathways-and-sailings-biggest-challenge