Is sport relevant without an audience?

Whether it be network broadcast, YouTube, or other social media channels, there is an eagerness for sailing events to attract an audience. The reasons are varied from commercial exposure to event ego, but it all costs money and is occurring more than ever. Does any of it help the sport?

505 sailor Alexander Meller doesn’t think so:

Sailing works as a participatory sport, and does not work for broadcast viewing, particularly by those not familiar with sailboat racing.

World Sailing’s income from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for running Sailing Program takes their focus away from fostering grass roots sailing, and causes them to continue “tinkering” with the Olympic events in an unsuccessful effort to make it both understandable and compelling viewing to non-sailors.

This is at the expense of the competitors at the Olympics, and due to the trickle-down effect of changes to the racing rules and to preferred courses, adversely impacts racing for the grass roots competitors (everyone else in sailing).

The IOC is morphing “Citius, Altius, Fortius” into the X-Games in an effort to maintain TV viewership and revenue. Tied to the payment from the IOC, World Sailing is following the IOC instead of focusing on growing the sport at the base.

What brings newcomers to sailing/racing, and keeps current racers active, is the perception that they are learning and getting better. This is largely accomplished at the local fleet/club level, so the focus from the top down should be on improving these opportunities… not watching others sail.