SailGP: Exclusive interview with the boss - Russell Coutts in conversation

Russell, it's been seven years since you and Larry Ellison came up with the idea for the SailGP. That was after the 2017 America's Cup. Did your shared America's Cup history influence the initiative?

Yes, first of all, there was a lot more movement with the foiling boats when you saw them on the screen. Much more than the static images you see on TV. I thought that was a real game changer in terms of attracting a wider audience to the sport. The SailGP proved that today.

The audience is much bigger than we have ever experienced in the America's Cup. That's incredible. And there are other factors: the short and fast races are a good thing. Also the racing close to shore. We now have large crowds of fans at our events. Our goal is to have 10,000 or more people at most events in the future. At least at the events where this is possible. Some events only have a limited amount of space. We are on the way to achieving that.

The SailGP is already working very well in some business areas, while the series is still growing in others...

I believe we are still growing in all areas. That's for sure. We are still a fairly new venture. We expect more teams and more venues in the future. We are very proud of the partnerships we already have, especially with Rolex as a title partner over a long period of time. We really have an incredible group of premium brands: Rolex, Mubadala, Oracle, Emirates and DP World. They are a fantastic group and we expect them to grow in the future.

In its early days, the league was heavily financed by Larry Ellison. Is SailGP now earning money?

Absolutely! We don't need any more funding from our founder Larry Ellison. That's great. I really believe that we are the first company in sailing to have achieved this. So, certainly in the professional side of the sport. That's an encouraging development and direction. But we still have a long way to go.

I'm really excited to see how much this company can grow. If you had asked me five years ago if I could imagine 10,000 paying fans at an event, I would probably have said no. Now we've proven that we can do it. Now we've proven that we can do it. The fans really love it. SailGP is attractive to a much more ready demographic, appeals to a much broader audience. I think a lot of our fans are racing fans rather than sailing fans. I think that's very encouraging for the sport.

You deliberately appeal to racing fans by also using terms from Formula 1 motor racing...

We produce our races with this in mind. We want to inspire racing fans. To make this commercially viable, we need a bigger audience. So racing is a big part of that. I think all the traditional skills that you need to win races are still there. It's still the same people who can win in the Laser or 49er who win here.

As long as it takes these skills to win, it's a good formula." Russell Coutts

How do you view the German team, which only entered the league two years ago, and its development?

I think I expected them to finish on the podium before this weekend. Especially when you look at the talent of the people they have on board. I think they will get better. They will get there. It's a process. And it's really difficult to be successful here on this circuit.

What makes it so demanding?

You really are sailing against the best of the best in the SailGP. When you're competing against teams like Australia, Spain, New Zealand, the British - they're simply hard to beat.

Because many of the top crews have been there from day one, but the Germany SailGP Team has only been there for two years?

Not necessarily. If you look at Spain, they did a really good job and won a season championship. They have shown that it is possible. They are an example. They have their processes well under control, good coaching and excellent people on board. So it is possible.

You yourself won Olympic gold in the Finn dinghy in 1984, you won the America's Cup five times and were also the best match racer of your generation. You even played a part in the German Admiral's Cup victory in 1993 as one of the helmsmen on Willy Illbruck's "Pinta". You were an exceptional sailor for decades. Do you still sail yourself now?

No (laughs). Sometimes I go cruising. But I'm really enjoying this new path in my career. I was a competitive sailor for a long time, but this is just as challenging, I think. It's just as rewarding and exciting. At my stage of life, in many ways even more exciting than if I was still racing myself.

I'm really trying to build interest in the sport for future generations." Russell Coutts

If we can do this successfully, it will bring more young people into sport. That's good for sport as a whole.

Also in such a way that sailors can earn decent money in their sport?

In any case. I mean: All SailGP sailors are paid. And we also reward them with prize money (Editor: In the fifth SailGP season, a total of 12.8 million US dollars in prize money will be paid out). And we want to increase this in the coming years with growing support. I believe that the best sailors, like all top athletes in their sports, should be rewarded for their performance. Especially when they connect with a large number of fans. This is definitely developing in the SailGP.

The big SailGP goals for the future?

The bidding process for teams 13 and 14 is currently underway and we will make the announcements in due course. This has been a really competitive process. We had a lot of interest from new and existing teams.

Is it right that team licences are being sold for 60, 70 million euros?

Yes, see my comment on ticket sales. If someone had said that to me five years ago, I would have said: no way, not yet, maybe sometime in the future, but not so soon. I think the key is that some teams are already making money. So they are profitable. Which in turn was completely unknown in our sport until now.

How many teams are profitable?

I think almost half of the teams are.

What does it take?

This will change in the coming years. At the moment, it is mainly the commercial sponsors. They are the main source of income for the teams. There will be other sources of income such as licensing. Broadcasting revenue will also be shared if this becomes relevant. At the moment, we are focussing on increasing the audience. But in the future we will look at commercialising this aspect and the corresponding team shares. That's a good thing!

And the teams can also work with their venue. The business model for the teams is convincing, and the fact that the teams can already operate profitably with their sponsorship alone is really encouraging. There is interest from a very diverse group of investors. And every time we get new teams, another market is added and the audience grows.

How many teams can there be?

If we grow to 20 teams - I think that's the absolute upper limit - then we want to organise one event in each of these countries. That will give us 20 or more events per season. And if you think about it, that's pretty similar to what Formula 1 does. Formula 1 has 24 events.

Where is your current home?

The SailGP head office is in London, but I still live in New Zealand. I spend a lot of time in London though. And we have SailGP Technologies in Southampton. Then we have a small office in New York and one in Auckland.

You coached your son Mattias Coutts for a while. He is very successful in the Olympic 49er and has also been Moth World Champion...

I don't do that any more. He has his own coaches, which is good. He's trying to get to the Olympic Games. He has his own programme. And he loves it. That's the most important thing. He has to find his own way.

The SailGP preview of the German premiere in Sassnitz, which starts at 3.30 pm on 16 August: