SailGP could have team owned by cryptocurrency fans by 2023 – Fox Business

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SailGP, the global league co-founded by software tycoon Larry Ellison, could have a team owned and operated by cryptocurrency enthusiasts as soon as the start of its fourth season in late 2023.

SailGP announced a multi-year partnership Thursday with blockchain development platform NEAR that will allow sailing and cryptocurrency fans to engage with their favorite teams and athletes in new ways.

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The announcement came ahead of SailGPs Season 2 finale, the Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix in San Francisco, which will culminate with Sundays $1 million, winner-take-all podium race.

SailGP features most of the worlds top sailors, including Americas Cup winners and Olympic gold medalists, who race aboard wingsailed, 50-foot catamarans that can reach 60 mph while skimming above the waves on hydrofoils. SailGP will expand from eight to 10 national teams for its third season.

While the agreement with NEAR is expected to have many benefits for fans, including NFTs, the highlight would be ownership of a sailing team by a community of token-holders known as a DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization.

The SailGP DAO would differ from traditional sports team structures in which a single owner or a small group calls the shots, said SailGP co-founder Russell Coutts and NEAR Foundation CEO Marieke Flament. The DAO could involve people from all over the world who vote on everything from the management structure to the length of the skippers contract and could even decide whether there should be a woman steering the boat.

"Thats in some ways why this is so exciting," Coutts said in a video interview. "This is groundbreaking technology, a groundbreaking initiative. We dont believe its been done before, especially on this scale. And when you think about it, with our events being all over the world, as well, were not just in one particular territory. Thats of interest as well."

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Coutts, a New Zealander who has won the Americas Cup five times, said he expects a DAO would attract more than just sailors. "I think sports fans, racing fans, businesspeople, tech people you can imagine this being a very diverse group of people and they would probably feed off each others skills," Coutts said. "The whole concept of, Hey, wed like to have a say in whats going on, that will appeal to a lot of people out there."

A man kite-foiling makes his way past the New Zealand team during a Sail GP practice session Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) ((AP Photo/Eric Risberg) / AP Newsroom)

Coutts said a DAO would have to be viable enough for SailGP to sell it a position as a team operator.

Coutts and Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corp., started SailGP after their two-time defending champion Oracle Team USA was routed by Emirates Team New Zealand in the 2017 Americas Cup. They re-engineered the 50-foot catamarans used in that regatta and formed an annual circuit with regattas around the world.

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Tom Slingsby, an Olympic gold medalist and former Americas Cup champion, steered Team Australia to the inaugural championship and $1 million prize in 2019. Slingsby and Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill, a two-time Americas Cup winner, have qualified for Sundays $1 million, winner-take-all race that will decide the pandemic-delayed Season 2 championship. The final spot will be determined by five fleet races this weekend.

Sail GP teams New Zealand, Japan and Australia, from left, make their way past Alcatraz Island during a practice session Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in San Francisco. The boats are preparing for the SailGP Grand Final races this weekend on San Francisco ((AP Photo/Eric Risberg) / AP Newsroom)

For Season 2, SailGP has been using Oracle Stream Analytics to provide real-time race metrics that are available to the sailors as well as fans watching on TV or online.

Coutts said one reason for partnering with NEAR is that its carbon-neutral, which fits the leagues goal of being environmentally responsible.

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"We want to be leading in terms of tech, whether its our boats, our media, interactions with our fans," Coutts added. "We want to be modern and leading. We want to be at the forefront not just whats happening today, but we want to be looking at and leading whats happening tomorrow.

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Flament said NEAR was looking for a partner "who was willing to innovate, and when I look at SailGP and the amount of data and innovation and whats being done with that, I think its amazing. Theres an openness to doing new things and trying new things."

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SailGP could have team owned by cryptocurrency fans by 2023 - Fox Business