SailGP’s first ever fan-owned team will offer fans a connection to the sport that they ‘can’t get anywhere else’.
The team, which will represent Bermuda and the Caribbean, was founded by Bernoulli | Locke and will be run as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) on the NEAR Protocol.
Fans have the opportunity to become founding members of the team, which will grant them equity, governance and voting opportunities in team decisions, as well as exclusive member benefits and team experiences.
SailGP’s SVP of strategy and commercial Ben Johnson said the team was launched and tailored to the unique interests of league fans.
“At the end of the day, being a SailGP fan is about the fun, the newness of the sport, the opportunity to bring in community and really share that experience,” he said.
This opportunity, he added, offers unique access that just isn’t available ‘in other sports’ - “I think that’s really reflected in this idea of a DAO.”
Founding members will also be able to collaborate with fellow fans and owners on proposals, and vote on key team operation decisions, from athlete selections to the livery of the F50.
Johnson revealed the reasons for launching the unique proposition, which separates SailGP for any other ‘traditional sporting event’.
“When we look at something that’s new for our fans, we really want it to be genuinely additive,” he explained. “Whether that’s the experience on site, whether that’s the access they get to the organization across the athletes and reflected at the events.”
The ‘driving factor’, he said, is to provide ‘a connection to our sport that our fans wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else’.
Looking ahead to the future of the fan owned team, Johnson said his eventual hope is that the team operates ‘very much in the way a traditional sports team does’, but specifically in terms of ‘access and decision making that’s reflective of the community behind the DAO.’
It comes after two-time All-Star NBA player Baron Davis invested in the fan-owned team, becoming the first professional athlete to do so.
Find out more about SailGP’s first fan-owned team.
