SailGP returns to Valencia: the transformation of sailing into a global spectacle

The Copa América in the first decade of the century transformed the maritime façade of Valencia, accelerated the gentrification of the popular neighborhoods of Cabanyal and Malvarrosa and opened the door to the world for Alejandra Mato, an executive from Madrid who arrived in the Levantine capital in 2003. She began working on the Oracle, the American challenge boat assembled by Larry Ellison, and became the right hand of Russell Coutts, the New Zealand navigator who piloted the boats of the Oracle millionaire. "When we left the America's Cup, in 2017, when we lost in Bermuda, at that time, Ellison and Russell Coutts decided to set up SailGP and that's where I went. I must have done something right to stay here," says Mato, sitting on the pleasant terrace of the Veles e Vents, the Chipperfield building, an emblem of urban transformation and a memory of the 2007 America's Cup. In front of it, the Mediterranean opens placidly on the hot first weekend of September.

Mato speaks at a unique moment, when his life circle and that of sailing close in a certain way with the premiere of the great competition of 13 15-meter flying catamarans on foils in the form of SailGP races in the same port where his professional career in the America's Cup set sail. “We started with seven people at a table, in a room, so to speak,” recalls Mato, one of the thinking and executing minds of SailGP, a structure in which she officially holds the position of chief of staff. "I work a lot hand in hand with Coutts, and I am in the group of directors of SailGP. I hope that my opinion has some weight and above all that I can contribute and help SailGP continue to grow, of course, which is the objective. It is a project that we have all worked very hard to get to where we are today, finishing the sixth season, and growing year after year. As a sports and entertainment company, we have set the goal of reaching the top 25 in 2030. of the great world sporting events.

At the beginning, Ellison and Coutts' company owned everything, the boats - the F50 catamarans with the 28-meter ones that were used for the 2017 America's Cup -, the hangars, all the materials that are transported from port to port to port in more than 100 containers and also the equipment, each representing a country. After an accelerated process in the last two years that culminated with the transactions of the New Zealand Black Foils and the purchase of Los Gallos, the Spanish team, by the Singapore group Quantum Pacific of the Israeli shipping company Idan Ofer, also a shareholder in Atlético de Madrid and the Movistar cycling team, SailGP has already sold the 13 teams at a price around 40 million euros each and to owners ranging from investment funds to celebrities such as Kylian Mbappé, shareholder of the French team, whose visit to Valencia is expected on Saturday, actress Anne Hathaway or actor Hugh Jackman.

"We have developed the sport a lot because the concept of traditional sailing has nothing to do with what we do today. We have commercialized it a lot, we have opened it to the public, to the fan who does not have to understand sailing, but rather that fan who likes the entertainment, the emotion, the speed of Formula 1 or MotoGP," explains Mato. “That's kind of our profile.”

"Now all the teams are independent, and that gives us important financing. At a global level we are now sustainable," says Mato. The annual income of the competition approached 200 million euros in 2025. "We had great help from Larry Ellison when we started this, from his personal money, not from Oracle. He has a passion for sailing, because he has been a sailor all his life. We have been fortunate that we have developed very well as a league and we also generate profits."

Mato's desire and the commitment to promote Valencia as a sailing enclave by the Valencian Generalitat, which fought with Barcelona and lost to host the 2024 Copa América, came together so that the Valencian Community took over from Cádiz to host the Spanish stage, the tenth grand prix of the 13 that make up the championship. In May, the regional government signed a three-year contract by which it will pay SailGP 10 million euros (50% of the total estimated expenditure) for the celebration of the 2026 and 2027 GPs in Valencia and the 2028 GP in Alicante. The Valencia City Council will contribute 1.2 million annually, and the Provincial Council will contribute one million in 2026.

The contract makes the extension to 2029 and 2030 subject to 35% of the attendees being foreigners in 2026, 40% in 2027 and 45% in 2028. Regarding the global television audience, Valencia requires 15 million viewers in 2026, 17 million in 2027 and 19 million in 2028, with a series minimum hours of broadcast (250 in 2026, 275 hours in 2027 and 300 hours in 2028). "Of course we are confident in meeting those conditions. We have many fans who follow us around the world, who come to two, three events and we see that this percentage is growing every year. Every year we are growing in audiences, in social networks, in number of fans. We already attract followers from 18 to 34 years old, a segment to which traditional sailing has nothing to say. Every time we return to a city, well, we triple the number of fans in audiences," says Mato. “And we broadcast globally in 112 countries right now.”

“Right now, our expense to host an event is greater than the fee set by the city,” emphasizes Mato. "We make a fairly important investment when we go to the cities. For Valencia the economic impact is going to be very important. In Cádiz they exceeded 100 million, and I think Valencia will see this."

The “races” – “we do not use the term regatta,” Mato points out – in the Mediterranean breeze on Saturday and Sunday (1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Movistar Vamos 2) will also be a tough test and an opportunity for the Spanish boat, which is second this season after having won two grand prix (Halifax and Portsmouth) and has managed to sail at more than 100 kilometers per hour. However, he did not compete in the final of any of the four grand prix contested in previous years in Cádiz.