It would be hard to argue that Sir Russell Coutts, SailGP co-founder has built one of the world’s fastest-growing sports properties. This week he appeared with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzito to explain why team valuations are heading toward $100 million. It is, by any measure, an impressive story. It is also one that New Zealand has no seat at the table for.
Speaking on the Opening Bid programme, Coutts outlined the investment case. The league’s sales hit $200 million last year, reportedly up 68% year on year. A quarter of the teams are already profitable from sponsorship alone, without yet touching licensing or broadcast revenue. (The suggestion is that three-quarters aren’t.) The next franchise is understood to be selling for $70 million, and Coutts believes $100 million valuations could arrive before the end of 2026. When the league launched in 2019, those same franchises were worth $5 million to $10 million.
The growth engine, he explained, is simple: add a country, gain an audience. Brazil is the example he keeps returning to. Before a Brazilian team was added, the country drew around 600,000 dedicated viewers on Globo TV. The team brought that to 1.6 million. Adding a Brazilian event pushed it higher again. Every new flag carries a fan base with it.
The league is capped at 20 teams, one per country. Coutts was direct about what that ceiling means for investors: it is probably never going to be valued this low again. The investors backing these franchises, firms like Ares Capital and Blue Pool alongside the celebrity money that has been flowing in, are planning to hold for at least five years.
For New Zealand fans, the interview is worth sitting with for a moment. Coutts is a five-time America’s Cup winner who, with Oracle’s Larry Ellison, designed a competition built on exactly the kind of F50 foiling technology that New Zealand’s sailing culture helped develop. The Kiwi sailors scattered across the fleet, Andy Maloney and Brad Farrand on Sweden’s Artemis Racing, Phil Robertson driving for Red Bull Italy, give the sport a distinctly New Zealand flavour.
