Strong interest for SailGP expansion

After SailGP revealed expansion plans for the 2026 season, unveiling details of a tender process to seek investment for ownership of two new teams, more than a dozen bidders are being considered.

“I think we’re at about 15 (bidders) at the moment,” said Andrew Thompson, SailGP’s managing director. “The bids close on August 15, and then we will make a decision.

“We’ve been talking to various parties for the last couple of years and we have kind of funneled them all into the same place, so I’d be amazed if all of a sudden somebody else just came in now, but you never know.”

SailGP still owns the New Zealand and Spain teams and are looking at how they can bring new investment into them. – Full report

SailGP information – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 7 events)
1. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 54 points
2. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 52 points
3. Spain – Diego Botin, 51 points
4. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 50 points
5. Canada – Giles Scott, 41 points
6. France – Quintin Delapierre, 37 points*
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 28 points
8. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 19 points
9. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 18 points**
10. Brazil – Martine Grael, 11 points**
11. Germany – Erik Heil, 0 points**
12. United States – Taylor Canfield, 0 points**
* France was awarded points for the first two events as their F50 was not available
**Teams receive season penalty points for incidents during practice or racing

Season 5 Schedule – 14 events *
2024
November 23-24 – Dubai, UAE

2025
January 18-19 – Auckland, New Zealand
February 8-9 – Sydney, Australia
March 15-16 – Los Angeles, USA
March 22-23 – San Francisco, USA
May 3-4 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 7-8 – New York City, USA
July 19-20 – Portsmouth, Great Britain
August 16-17 – Sassnitz, Germany
September 6-7 – Taranto, Italy
September 12-13 – Saint-Tropez, France
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain
November 7-8 – Middle East
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE
* The season began with 14 events but Tranto was replaced with Saint-Tropez, while Rio and Middle East were cancelled.

Format for Season 5:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Five qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the prize purse (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $400,000.00 USD prize purse with winning team earning $200k at each event).
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $2 million USD prize).
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will get a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had a $350,000.00 prize).
• The league still owns the New Zealand and Spain teams and are looking at how they can bring new investment into them.

For competition documents, click here.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.

Source: SailGP