SailGP: first entirely fan-owned racing team
The SailGP F50 catamaran fleet in action on Race Day 2 of the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Christchurch, New Zealand. Sunday 24th March 2024. Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
Hamlins supported long standing client, SailGP, on the creation of the first entirely fan-owned racing team for SailGP.
SailGP was founded in 2018 by Larry Ellison and Sir Russell Coutts, as a revolutionary new global sporting format, aimed at redefining the sport. The championship sees national teams compete on 50-foot, wing-sailed catamarans across a season of grand prix in iconic locations across the globe.
Hamlins advised SailGP on this global first, which gives fans the opportunity to become founding members of a professional SailGP team, run as a decentralised autonomous organization (DAO).
Hamlins supported SailGP throughout this ground breaking deal by advising on commercial opportunities, corporate structuring, broadcast rights and sponsorship opportunities and overseeing the Participation Agreement. This project represents an innovative and legally complex way to access fans in the crypto-space in an effort to democratise sport and bring increased engagement with sailing.
The membership model allows fans to share decentralised ownership of a SailGP sailing team. As well as being granted equity and governance rights, team owners will be able to vote on key decisions about how the team is run, including the team name and boat livery and the selection of sponsors and athletes. Russell Coutts, CEO of SailGP, describes as this as the “ultimate implementation of a fan loyalty program".
The Web 3.0 strategy offers equity and non-equity tokens to individuals, and is built on blockchain platform, NEAR.