sailing's ticking time bomb

The world of pro sailing is mysterious

you can sail with rich people 

but "pro athletes" competing for themselves

well there are a variety of competitions where the athletes competing are true pros

the olympics, ocean race, vendee globe, americas cup, and now sailgp

most of these have been established for years, the americas cup old mug is the oldest trophy in sport

but sailgp, where many of the goats of sailing compete is extrememly new

How has it managed to reach the upper echelon of sialing so quickly, money.

Larry ellison, billionarie founder of oracle 

has agreed to put in millions ever year in order to keep the league afloat... for now

he wants it to become self sustainable

Teams make money from sponsorship. but their main source of income for most is prize mmoney, 300k for winning an event and 1million for winning the season.

teams like australia with no sponsor rely on this solely for their funding 

But for this to be sustained once larry stops his funding sailgp are going to have to reach numbers that most sailing leagues would not think possible

they are doing their best

but without bidding wars for the rights, or another philanthropic billionaire stepping in to fund it it does seem unlikely that the league will sustain such high prize pools

and without the prize pools we may see some of the eliete sailors step away

and with them the viewship will go 

as with triathlon, as with football, as with tiger in golf, top viewship only comes when you have the goats competing