MSP Sports Capital has bought a majority stake in the New Zealand SailGP Team, making the Black Foils the last of the 13 teams to secure private investment.
The announcement was made a day before Co-CEOs Peter Burling, Blair Tuke and their crew make a comeback to the league in Halifax, Nova Scotia after more than four months out of competition following a high-speed crash in Auckland.
MSP Capital, the private equity firm founded by veteran sports investor-operators Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moorad, has a portfolio that covers a number of major sports leagues including MLB, NBA, NFL, Formula 1 and European football.
CEO Jeff Moorad explained his reason for getting involved in SailGP and the Black Foils: “Our vision is straightforward: win championships, represent New Zealand at the highest level, and build on the country’s unmatched sailing culture. Peter and Blair are the best in the world at what they do, and we’re delighted to partner with them in this next chapter.”
It has been a difficult season for the Black Foils. A boat-breaking crash with the Swiss in Perth, the opening event of the year, was followed by a collision with the French team less than a month later on the newly repaired F50.
The New Zealanders are looking to make a big comeback in Halifax aboard their new F50. The team sailed on the boat for the first time on Thursday and will take part in practice racing in Halifax on Friday afternoon along with the 12 other teams.
Peter Burling, New Zealand’s driver, with Phil Robertson, driver of the Italian team, Taylor Canfield, driver of the United States SailGP team, and Tash Bryant, the Australian team’s strategist, took part in a press conference ahead of this weekend’s SailGP in Canada. (Katelyn Mulcahy for SailGP)
Languishing at the bottom of the results table after missing the past four events, Tuke, the co-founder of the Black Foils and the team’s wing trimmer, knows they have a mountain to climb if they’re to make it to the final three for the Championship-deciding finale in Abu Dhabi this November.
“It’s certainly going to be hard now,” he told The Athletic. “I think it’s still mathematically possible. It’s pretty crazy, things happen in this league, but we will push to win every weekend. That’s the goal for us. It’s the goal even if we’re at the front, to try and do the best we can and step forward as a team with that continuous improvement.”
For such a high-performing team, it’s somewhat surprising that the Black Foils have been the last of the 13 teams to secure private investment.
“Lucky number 13, right?” Tuke smiled. “We wanted to have the right partner and to have someone come in who could take this team to the next level.
“We firmly believe that we can be a global sporting team, a really strong brand which is rooted back to New Zealand, but then has a global presence. To do that, you need to have the right ownership and people that are ready to push hard and to work closely with us, and MSP’s got all of that.”
On Thursday, the Black Foils blessed their new carbon-fiber catamaran and named the boat Manawatītī. “This is the name that has been gifted to us,” Tuke said, explaining that the tītī is a seabird known for its immense stamina and ability to fly long distances across the ocean. “It was a pretty awesome blessing ceremony, pretty low key but really powerful.
“These boats are all owned by SailGP, and the boats can change and be used by different teams. But we see ourselves as custodians of this boat for the time being. We wanted to set it off well and start that process as those first custodians of Manawatītī.”
A surprise this didn’t happen sooner
Analysis by SailGP writer Andy Rice
Ever since Sir Ben Ainslie bought the first team franchise in SailGP in October 2021, valuations have skyrocketed.
Ainslie is believed to have secured the British franchise for less than $5m and not even five years later his investment is estimated to be worth upwards of $80m.
Why it has taken so long for one of the best-performing teams to secure private investment is not entirely clear.
It has been an awful first half of the season for Burling and his crew, but MSP Capital’s decision to take a majority stake in the team shows the rising prominence of SailGP as a serious sports investment with a lot of upside potential.
With the announcement just last month that Disney+ is to make a documentary series in alliance with the Hollywood stars and co-owners of the Australian team, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, it’s no surprise to see MSP jumping on board the SailGP investment train. It’s just surprising it didn’t happen sooner.