Time to find a better business model

As elite sailing events seek to expand their viewership for commercial appeal, does this also help grow the sport? It depends, but we are not talking about playing pickle ball. For sailing, the distance between awareness and activation is significant and requires tenacity and support to overcome.

John Harris (Shelburne, VT) thinks it’s time for a reality check:

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Maybe I am atypical, but my interest level in Olympic sailing, SailGP, America’s Cup, etc. is pretty much zero, and I think those events do next to nothing to grow participation in the sport.

It would be interesting if US Sailing did a survey of their members to see how they feel about this part of the sport and how US Sailing (and World Sailing) spends its money.

If I were “King for a Day” (as one of my former bosses used to say), I would be figuring out how to decouple World Sailing funding from the Olympics and focus on promoting growth of the sport via participating rather than spectating.

In my opinion, sailing’s involvement in the Olympics is totally distorting that aspect of the sport with little real value aside from getting money from the International Olympic Committee. Time to find a better business model.

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