SailGP has rolled out a stellar set of performance numbers for the 2025 season, highlighting unmatched audience growth, new commercial partnerships, high-profile investors and scaled global operations.
SailGP is unique in competitive sailing in providing a regular world-wide Grand Prix circuit, with 12 fully professional teams competing at each event. Also unique is the provision of on-site spectator stands for ticketed viewing – 112,000+ total spectators across the season – in addition to live television broadcasting – averaging 18 million viewers per event – with social media views hitting 1.65 billion.
SailGP set a record for its single-event viewership with 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.
All this from a standing start in October 2018 with the London launch of the SailGP International league by CEO Russell Coutts, co-founder with Larry Ellison. With an initial six national teams, and five inshore venues starting with Sydney in February 2019, and the final event featuring a winner-takes-all, US$1 million championship match race.
The 2026 season will feature 13 national teams racing at 13 different venues, and with a total of US $12M (£9.2m) prize money available over the season, and featuring US $2M (£1.5m) for the winner of the three-boat Grand Final race.
Valuations of SailGP teams have also continued to climb, from celebrity owners to established venture capital and private equity funds – with team valuations now claimed well in excess of US $60 million. And the League has also introduced an Athlete Transfer framework, as a result of the fierce competition between teams for the services of top athletes in the sport.
The F50 foiling multihull used is a redesigned version of the AC50 catamaran which raced in the 2017 America’s Cup. The F50 revolutionized the sport with its foiling design, which sees the boat out of the water, allowing it to hit speeds of over 100 km/h in perfect conditions.
A programme of continuous modification to the foils and wing mast has improved the performance, allowing racing to take place over a wider range of weather conditions . . . essential to meet the event time-window.
Key to the rolling improvement programme is the SailGP officially global headquarters for design, manufacturing and innovation excellence recently opened 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.
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. 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 SailGP Numbers . . .
A record year for SailGP as the league caps its fifth season on a high
The global racing championship’s dedicated viewership climbs to 215 million – including a record 3.5 million tuning in to a single U.S. broadcast – as new and expanding global partners drive unprecedented commercial growth.
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 1.65 billion+ social views
- 1 million YouTube subscribers milestone
- 124 million+ views on SailGP’s most viral 2025 content across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube
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