New Tour Card system based on marketability of sailors as well as talent.
From a sailor’s point of view, the World Match Racing Tour has one of the simplest team business models to understand. As one of the only events that offers decent prize-money, sailors can make predictions about a potential revenue stream over and above any sponsorship that they might be able to raise.
The formula is a prediction of event placings and prize money, plus any sponsorships less costs. With 4 to 5 guys in the team, the profits are not huge. For teams that have competed on the tour for a number of years, the costs are fairly well known, though in recent years the process of obtaining a ‘tour card’ has been quite a big variable.
This will change for 2012, with the World Match Racing Tour announcing changes to the Tour Invite Policy.
Tour Cards will be offered to nine skippers. These teams will gain guaranteed invitations to five individual stages prior to the final event of the season and also have the option to secure a Card for up to three years. The blind bidding system, which introduced a level of uncertainty into the system has been replaced with a flat fee.
Unlike other sailing events where the team has the ability to brand up a boat and its sails, the World Match Racing Tour format favors event sponsors. With increased television coverage, the team’s uniforms and clothing is perhaps the most valuable asset they have, though being talked about in the media through winning also helps exposure.
Increasingly, rights holders are understanding that without ‘rock-star’ sailors, selling events, television and sponsorship is difficult. Many of the top events are taking an active role in helping teams fund campaigns.
CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, Knut Frostad said in recently:
Last weekend we hosted 25 brands who have never been involved in sailing. We do that for the teams. We have four people working full time trying to raise money for teams.
The Vendee Globe is also mindful that with 12 months to go, the starting grid is looking a little light. This week, the event will hold an event in London to try and help UK teams raise awareness of their campaigns.
As part of the new Tour Card package, the World Match Racing Tour is planning on giving tour card holders a team specific valuation report, created by an independent agency, to help teams position themselves to sponsors.
The report will be based on the level of exposure that teams receive across the Tour’s multimedia platform, and will include a team valuation figure and a valuation breakdown for each of their sponsors.
In 2010, the average team value for the Tour’s nine Tour Card Holders across the season was over US$770,000. (As with all averages, this needs to be put into context – In 2010, Ben Ainslie was one of the Tour Card holders and one imagines that his value was significantly higher than some others.)
Ainslie is one of the few sailors in the world who can guarantee media attention. The goal is to make the sailors recognisable enough that an event can market them like a golf event markets the headline players. There is a way to go yet, but it is interesting to note that Tour Cards won’t be awarded on ability alone.
A statement from the tour says:
The new Tour Invite Policy will therefore adopt a selection model that reflects a combination of performance and marketability.
For 2012, the nine Tour Cards will be allocated on three key selection criteria: performance in previous year; rankings; and, an analysis of the team’s ability to add value and consistency to the Tour as a Championship, sports property, media vehicle and as a business.
In other words, big names need to be attracted to the tour, or current names need to be made bigger.
Jim O’Toole, CEO of the World Match Racing Tour understands that having any old name on the bill is not enough:
“Our Tour Card Holders are our single biggest asset – throughout the season they are the headline acts that attract live spectators and TV viewers around the world to watch our Championship events. The new Invite Policy is designed to safeguard that asset but also reward our Card Holders for their performances on the water and professionalism off it.
“Sailing teams are operating in an increasingly competitive market and we believe the new policy terms reaffirm the Tour’s position as an attractive and viable professional sailing series that not only offers World Championship status but also significant financial reward.”
The World Match Racing Tour has provided many of today’s top sailors with opportunities that they may otherwise never have had. The tour is a relatively low cost entry point that can take a match racer from 21 year old rookie to America’s Cup helm, however, the career paths to the top of the sport are being blurred.
While the WMRT needs some continuity and loyalty from sailors to deliver the best results for its stakeholders, sailors may have more choices. There is a tension between rights holders and teams that needs to be balanced.
Grant Dalton said recently during a Sailing Anarchy video:
“A lot of people who organise events believe that we (the teams) think we are lucky to be doing it. I think it is the other way around. They (the rights holders) are lucky we are in it. The show only works if the competitors turn up and the people who raise their money want to do it.”
In reality, the sport needs both entrepreneurial promoters who are willing to risk an investment in putting on the show and sailors who want to perform – both in the competitive sense and the entertainment sense.
