Sir Russell Coutts: SailGP CEO on the upcoming season, potential future events in Auckland

Auckland could become one of the cornerstones of the SailGP calendar, with the league discussing a six-year agreement to run events in the City of Sails. 

The global foiling league made its debut in Auckland in January, with bumper crowds turning out to enjoy the action on the Waitematā Harbour. 

It’s a sight Sir Russell Coutts hopes to see more of in years to come. 

“One of the things we’re trying to do with SailGP is make it an annual event, and I know the authorities in New Zealand are interested as well, so we’re discussing something like a six-year, or six-season, term, because there are huge benefits in coming back year after year,” he told the Herald. 

“Like many of the iconic events around the world, whether it be the Melbourne Cup or the Australian Open tennis, people get to know when they’re on at a certain time of the year and that has its distinct advantages. 

“We’re looking to do the same as we build out our calendar to 20-plus events a year. We’re looking to grow those events in the various continents around the world. 

“So in Australasia, of course, we’re looking to expand that calendar of events and no doubt you’ll see some announcements on that in the coming weeks.” 

Coutts said the make-up of those six years was still being discussed, with the potential of a four-year commitment with a two-year right of renewal an option alongside a straight six-year deal. 

It comes after the success of its first time in Auckland, with the event having a 46% audience increase between that and the season opener in Dubai late in 2024. 

The economic impact report for the event is expected to be made public soon, however, Coutts told the Herald it revealed a US$36 million ($63m) return. 

That number is a 73% increase on the 2024 New Zealand SailGP event, held in Christchurch, which amassed a total economic impact of US$20.7m for the host region. 

In a statement to the Herald, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited chief executive Nick Hill said it was positive about the potential to host SailGP again. 

“As with any major event investment, there is a process to follow including post-event analysis and a new business case. We are working constructively with the SailGP team to ensure we have all the information to take this forward and are working to a mid-April timeline,” Hill said. 

“We face significant funding challenges for attracting and delivering major events in Auckland. At present, we do not have a sustainable long-term funding model and this remains a critical issue.” 

While Coutts has previously spoken about the potential for other host cities in New Zealand, he said at this stage the organisation was not looking anywhere but Auckland. 

“It was a great event in Auckland, wasn’t it? I think it was hugely successful from SailGP’s perspective, but also from the city’s perspective and New Zealand’s perspective for that matter 

“We are not looking, at this stage, at other events in New Zealand, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t do at some time in the future.” 

While season five has its fourth of 13 confirmed events on the calendar in Los Angeles this weekend, plans are already in place for further expansion in season six. 

This season brought the addition of two new teams and another two are expected to be added for the next campaign as well as more stops on the calendar. 

The expanded lineup is also expected to see racing move to split-fleet racing, with seven boats on the water at a time opposed to the current structure in which all 12 teams compete against one another in fleet racing. 

“We’re going to run a process with the next two teams that we put on sale, which are teams 13 and 14, that’ll be more of a structured assessment of the various buyers,” Coutts said. 

“We know that there’s

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Sal GP hits Los Angeles this weekend for the fourth
event in the current season. The French sale GP team, meantime,
has announced new investment from a very high profile athlete,
coalition Capital, which is owned by French football superstar Killian Imbarpe,
has become a new partner and his Inspired by k

(00:35):
M Association will become the French team's official charity partner.
Sal GP CEO, of course, is Sir Russell Kotzer joins
us now, Sir Russell, thanks for your time killing em
Barbe one of the biggest names in global sport. How
big is this for you to have him associate himself
with salgp.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Oh, I think it's fantastic news.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
You know, it brings more eyeballs onto the sport and
you know, great news for.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
The French team too obviously with.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
You know, I mean to have a sports star of
that sort of profile involved with them is great, you know,
it as was you know.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
When when said Sebastian Vettel, you.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Know, partner with the German team, that was you know,
also significant the for the Germans and as a result
of that, you know, I mean that that they're getting
a lot more coverage in Germany.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
They're on zendif now.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
And we know from ticket sales from that event that's
coming up and in August it's going to be a
fantastic event, you know. So these sort of things help
a lot, and you know, absolutely thrilled to have involved.
And I think I believe he's going to be at
the New York event at the Bardla Sol GP New York,

(01:53):
So that's gonna be fun to hopefully meet him there.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Absolutely. I was going to ask about the Central Pe
events in France and September, but I guess that kind
of falls in the in the European football season. But
any chance to man himself like popping to the French event.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Who knows? I mean, as I said, I understand that he's.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
The plans are being made for him to be in
New York, so.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
So that would be great.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Are you going to be in Center Paige Jason? Is
that one that's on your character? Well?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I would never I would never turn down a trip
to Center Pe, Sir Russell, as you would know, how
do commercial deals like this come together? Is it? Is it?
Each of the individual syndicates who go out to the market,
do you, as the overriding organization get involved. How how
do these commercial deals work?

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Now?

Speaker 4 (02:42):
In this case, this is the teams occasionally you know,
well not occasionally. We also get approaches from outside entities
as to you know, especially now that's quite a regular thing,
you know, as to which teams are available to take
investment and so forth. But some of the teams are

(03:05):
also selling parcels of equity now in their teams. And
we're about to take Team thirteen and fourteen to market. Well,
there will be a fairly structured process behind that this time,
so they'll go to market soon and then we know

(03:27):
that there are potetual buyers out there that will be
bidding for those next two teams.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
So, you know, it's exciting time for SOLGP.

Speaker 4 (03:38):
We're growing pretty rapidly and you know, if I'm honest
with you, I never thought we'd be selling teams at
these sort of premiums, you know, even two years ago.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
It's it's it's amazing to see the growth.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Because you added Brazil and Italy of course for this
season to take it to twelve. So fourteen, is that
what your plan is? For the next ol GP season.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yes it is.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
Yeah, yeah, so we'll we go to a seven and
seven format, you know, meaning seven on one side of
the draw, seven on the other and race more races
at each of the events. So yeah, that's exciting news.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
You know.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
And you mentioned the new Bartle of Brazil Seltip team.
They've they've just signed two new sponsors which makes them
profitable already, you know, which is fantastic and similar story
for the British as well, where they've just signed JP
Morgan and HOWD and Insurance, so that takes them into

(04:40):
a similar position, which is great news for the for
everyone involved. You know, the model is for these teams
to become profitable and as other facets of the business grow.
Of course right now it's reliant on sponsorship revenue, but
as the other parts of the business grow, you know,
for example obviously the broadcast and then licensing rights and

(05:03):
participation in their own home events as well well, that
that'll only get better.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Sale gp Auckland's massive success when you were here in January,
have you made any progress? Remember when you joined us
on the broadcast that day you talked about wanting to
make this a long term thing. I think you talked
about a five year deal with Auckland. Any progress in
locking something like that and over the next few years.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, well, we're in the final stages of.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
Concluding the twenty twenty six calendar, but that's now involving
quite a few venues that have multi term agreements, you know.
So the long term vision is that go to twenty
plus events and have events at the same time every year.
So it's in discussion with Auckland that we are doing.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
A new.

Speaker 4 (05:54):
Four year term with a right of two year extension
or all go straight to a six year term, so
that's in discussion or six season term that's in discussion
now and I think it's I think it'd be great
for both parties. I mean, when you look at other
sports events around the world, you know, look at what

(06:16):
they do in Australia with the Melbourne you know, with
the tennis and the or the Melbourne Cup, you know,
as two examples of sort of iconic annual events that
happen and over time people get to know that those
events are on.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
And you know, we had a great we just got
the economic impact.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Return the study on that from back from Deloitte's and
indicated that it was thirty six million US dollars for
the Auckland event sixty two million Kiwi dollars.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
That's that's fantastic and that will.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
Only grow as you as you you know, sort of
becomes a fixed event on the calendar annually.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
If I'm involved in this from an Auckland point of view,
I'm biting your hand for the six year deal. Do
you feel confident you'll get it?

Speaker 4 (07:10):
I think I think all parties are pretty aligned there
that we all want to get it done. From a
SUBLDP perspective, it was a magnificent event.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
I think it worked for Auckland City as well. You know,
it worked for New Zealand.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
So you know, if you look at the return on that,
you know Deloitte study, you know, fifteen times plus return
is not a bad return. And as I said, because
it's an annual event that grows over time. So yeah,
we're excited about it. And I think the authorities and

(07:46):
you know on the other side, which are obviously Auckland
City and MB are equally motivated to try and conclude
arrangements and get a deal in place.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
But we'll see.

Speaker 4 (07:57):
As I said, we're announcing our calendar or a big
part of our calendar in a few weeks time, so
hopefully Aucland's on it.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, look for to seeing Auckland on it. Absolutely, you're
in Los Angeles at the moment for this weekend, followed
immediately by San Francisco. How much you're looking forward to
the next two weekends.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, it's gonna be great.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
I mean Los Angeles the the role its Los Angeles
Sel Grand Prix that's going to be probably lighter to
moderate wins. And then obviously the Oracle San Francisco Sel
Grand Prix. We all know what San Francisco delivers, particularly
this time of the year. It's we may see the

(08:40):
strongest wins of the season in San Francisco, and that's
gonna be quite a challenge for.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
The for the for the team.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
So two very different events, you know, from a New
Zealand standpoint.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
It's interesting. I've been looking at the data.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
Recently and the Kiwis and the Spanish by far the
best at gaining positions during the race. That's the good
news the users that both of them have been starting poorly.
Now we know that that Pete Building knows how to
start when he needs to.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
You know he can start well, so.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
They'll be no doubt looking to tidy that up and
I think if they do, they stand a real chance
of winning here.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
And in San Francisco.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
So right now, right now, the Australians are averaging their
position at mark one, which is a pretty strong indicator
of how they've started. The Australians are averaging two to
three places better than then all the other teams, so
that gives you a huge advantage, you know, and the
Kiwis are not very good. You know that they are

(09:47):
averaging around sixth at turning mark one, which is.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Not so great.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
So so they've got a tidy that up and if
they do, I think they're going to be right in there.
You know that they're clearly they've clearly got the boat
speed and the the I think they sell well tactically
positioning the boat well around the race course, and that
means they gained generally, you know that boats well. If
they can get off the start line and improve that
even by one or two places on average, they're going

(10:14):
to be right in there.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
It's pretty tight though for Russell, isn't it After three events?
Great Britain, Spain, Australia, New Zealand all within four points
of each other. The top seven separated by just twelve points.
Does this feel like the most competitive sole GP season yet?

Speaker 4 (10:28):
Well? Yeah, there's been three different winners, hasn't there, you know,
and so far in the three events, I think the
thing about the British is when you look at their data,
they start well, they're a little bit behind the Australians
in that regard, but they start well. They they actually
don't lose places around the course. It's really interesting, you know.

(10:50):
So where the Australians have lost some places downwind on
the on occasions and so.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Forth, the British just haven't lost anything, you know.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
So where they turn mark one that position from there
on in it's been upside for the British or they've
stayed the same, you know, and that's that consistencies meant.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
That they're leading the role.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
Ex SALGP Championship at the stage, you know. So however,
you know, the next two events are going.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
To be pretty different.

Speaker 4 (11:16):
They'll be very different I think from what we've seen
so far, and we could see a real shake up,
you know. And as I said, if the Kiwis in
the Spanish can get off the start, and we know
that both those teams can win, so we shall see,
we shall see.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
And just back to the French. Sydney was the first
time we've seen them compete. They missed the first two
with equipment problems, but they had a couple of top
three finishers in Fleet Racing and Sydney to finish sixth overall.
Have they sort of themselves out the gears all sorted?

Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, they're boats.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
We will hopefully called boats on the starting line this time,
barring any unforeseen.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Situations like we had in Sydney with the US team.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
But anyway that, yeah, they've been I was super impressed
with their performance because they missed the first two events
through no fault of their own, and came out sailing
really well in Sydney.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
So yeah, that was an impressive performance.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
That you know that that they obviously performed well last
season too and just through through you know, a place
in the final away on the last day in San Francisco.
But I would have learned from that and you'd expect
them to be pretty strong. And they're obviously that they're
another team that's that's that's in a great position commercially
as well, which obviously allows them to you know, plan

(12:42):
ahead and bring more up and coming members into their squad.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
So obviously with.

Speaker 4 (12:48):
This, you know, sponsorship of a corps, I know that
they've got some other big announcements pending, you know, and
obviously announcing Bape's participation.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Is only going to help that. So that, Yeah, will
there be a strong team in the future. Of course
they are going to be.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
You know that they've got I think nationally they've got
a very strong Olympic program, so they've got a good
pathway of young athletes that it happened to in the future,
you know, the French will be strong for some time.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
I think, yeah, driven well by Quentin Lapere of course.
Sir Russ, Well, just while I've got to you before
you go. I'm sure you've seen heard the chat about
the America's Cup potentially returning to Auckland as well in
twenty twenty seven. Team New Zealand and discussions around at
the moment. I know it's not not anything to do
with you now, but is that something you'd like to see?
Would you like to see Team New Zealand defend on
home waters?

Speaker 4 (13:43):
Yeah, Well, as you know, I sort of stepped out
of the America's Cup some years ago, so I haven't
really been close to it. I mean, it's America's Cup's
obviously a great event. You know, Soldier piece quite different.
As I said. You know, we're an annual event, and
we're building a calendar of twenty plus events a year
and growing the number of teams, and you wrap and

(14:06):
grow for a sole GP.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
But the Americans comes, you know, one of the oldest, I.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Think the oldest sporting competition in the world, So there's
some prestigure attached to that for sure.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Well, Sir Russell, all the best for LA this weekend
in San Francisco. I'll keep an eye out for my
own vite to Santrape in September. Thanks so much for
joining us on zed BE this afternoon. Thanks Jason, Thanks
for Russell So Russell Coots, their CEO of salgp out
of Los Angeles, where the next even gets underway around
ten o'clock tomorrow morning, New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Time for more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine. Listen
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