If it wasn’t for the Extreme Sailing Series, the America’s Cup World Series, or America’s Cup lite might look very different. Mark Turner and OC Thirdpole have shown that sailing can be a spectator sport and they have also shown that the business model for a sailing team can be commercially viable.
Many of the ACWS ‘innovations’ have been tested by the Extreme Series and it is perhaps a tribute to the commercial savvy of OC Thirdpole that ACEA have copied best practices like the ’5th Man’ guest spot and a ‘stadium sailing’ course for their events.
The results by Emirates Team NZ and Artemis Racing in Cascais also showed that the Extreme Sailing Series is one of the best training programs available for sailors wanting to sail 40-something foot catamarans at close quarters.
In December last year, Mark Turner announced that the Extreme Sailing Series would go global. The interim media figures were released last week, and the teams and sponsors are pretty happy with the product they are getting for their money.
We caught up with Mark at the Cowes Act of the Extreme Series to get his thoughts on the success of the global expansion, the business model for live streaming video and sponsorship activation.
