Boat racing league SailGP is seeking to add two expansion teams for the 2026 season, announcing Monday it has opened up the tender process for interested groups.
The additional teams will bring the league size to 14. The league hasn’t said what countries or regions the new teams will represent, though existing owners have suggested the league would be targeting Asia and the Middle East. The league has seven European teams, three Western Hemisphere squads and franchises in New Zealand and Australia. A crowdsourcing attempt to float a Caribbean and Bermuda team in 2023 failed.
Details of the process weren’t publicly disclosed Monday, with the league referring interested parties to Deloitte’s U.K. Sports Business Group for particulars. SailGP also indicated in a press release the tender process will also cover the mechanics of buying a stake in existing teams. Bidding for the expansion teams will be accepted through mid-August with selection completed by early September.
SailGP was started in 2019 by billionaire Larry Ellison and sailor Russell Coutts, initially with league-owned teams. SailGP has been selling its teams to third parties, which provides a basis on the potential fee for expansion teams.
The Italy SailGP team was sold last month at a $45 million valuation, controlling partner Assia Grazioli-Venier told Sportico. The fee for the Brazil team added for the latest season hasn’t been credibly reported, while in 2023 Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital bought control of Team USA at a $35 million valuation.
Terms of winning the Caribbean and Bermuda team two years ago included a $15 million expansion fee and two years of operating expenses banked, for a total of $35 million. David Palmer, founder of Bernoulli Locke, which sought to raise the funds for the Caribbean team, claimed at the time its fee was lower than other SailGP valuations because of the poor media and in-person markets of the region.
SailGP indicated the tender should include plans to operate through 2030, noting it approved all existing teams’ plans to operate through that year, including under a cost cap and central profit distribution system.
