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New York Times
10 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
When SailGP came to New York City: Spectators, ‘storytelling' and star-studded investors
In New York City, there is never any shortage of sports and entertainment options. This weekend alone, the New York Yankees hosted the Boston Red Sox in front of a sellout crowd and more than 100,000 people attended the Governors Ball music festival. The battle for market share has rarely felt so fierce, yet a short ferry ride over the water to Governors Island and another live sports event was in demand: SailGP. Just under 10,000 people filled out a grandstand — at $85 (£63) per ticket for adults and $43 for kids — to watch a sport growing in appeal and increasingly marketed as the Formula One of the seas. Advertisement The product is increasingly straightforward: 12 nations compete in 12 destinations for $12.8 million worth of prize money across the season. They race in identical hydrofoil catamaran boats, which can go at speeds of over 60 miles per hour. During this weekend's event, racers navigated rainy conditions and choppy waters on the Hudson River, with the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty painting a picture-perfect backdrop. Spain took their second consecutive event win in the difficult conditions. After finishing the Fleet Races in third with 38 points, Los Gallos held off New Zealand and France to take home the victory in the three-boat final. 'Sailing used to be white triangles on a blue background way out at sea,' says Andy Thompson, SailGP's managing director. 'But that is very far from what SailGP is today. It's a racing property.' The past fortnight has offered further evidence that SailGP is captivating investors. First, the Italian team was acquired by the women-led investment firm Muse Capital at a valuation of $45 million in a consortium that includes the Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway. This represented considerable growth for teams that were selling for between $5m-10m only two years ago. The former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry has previously led a group which acquired the U.S. team for $35 million. In March, Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe bought into the France SailGP team. If we needed any more evidence that Sail GP is the en-vogue sporting investment, this came last week when Ryan Reynolds added to his growing sporting portfolio by teaming up with Hugh Jackman — yes, that's Deadpool and Wolverine — as the pair became controlling owners of the Australian SailGP team. The Aussies, who have now rebranded as the Bonds Flying Roos — yes, that's Bonds underwear as the title sponsor — won the first three Sail GP championships and were runners-up last season. Advertisement Their star sailor Tom Slingsby, an Olympic gold medallist and CEO of the Aussie SailGP team, says he became aware of visits to SailGP events by Reynolds' team at Maximum Effort, the production company and marketing agency founded by the actor ('maximum effort' being the catchphrase of Reynolds' movie Deadpool). Tentative discussions have already started about a possible docuseries, following on from Reynolds' investment in Welsh soccer club Wrexham and Colombian soccer team La Equidad. 'They bring star power,' Slingsby tells The Athletic. 'To have Deadpool and Wolverine, they're the 'it' people right now. They also bring an element of storytelling. We're seeing what Ryan's done with Wrexham. They're just going to be fun owners. Having chatted with Ryan, he is incredibly funny and he's going to fit really well with our team. 'Importantly, every discussion with them is, 'What do you guys need to do to be successful?'. Obviously there's talk of ways to promote our team in the league, but it all comes second to us being successful on the water. I was obviously pretty strong on us being athletes first, and if we can be entertaining for the public as well, that's great, but we want to win on the water.' The U.S. team's ownership group is similarly stacked with big-time investors and star names. Mike Buckley, the CEO and on-boat strategist for the U.S. team, says: 'We wanted the most diverse ownership group that we could possibly find. We want people who don't think like us and have different areas of expertise. 'I can pick up the phone and call Marc Lasry, who runs one of the most successful private equity firms in the world (Avenue Capital). He won the NBA championship and took the Bucks from the back to the front and the valuation from a few hundred million to three or four billion.' The U.S. ownership also features founding Uber engineer Ryan Mckillen and his wife Margaret, the Resy co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk, Hollywood actress Issa Rae, the NFL's DeAndre Hopkins and boxer Deontay Wilder. For sailors, SailGP provides game-changing security by providing year-round events beyond the America's Cup and Olympic Games. Advertisement 'Sailing used to jump on the radar every four years and then it just disappeared off the mainstream public's vision,' says Slingsby. 'After an Olympics, when you finish your event, you'd just be sitting there and there's no funding, you're out of a job for a while and you're waiting for the phone to ring. 'When I've been between Olympics, I've had other jobs — bartending and boat building, all sorts of things. You're doing anything you can to keep the money coming in. 'In 10 years, we'll definitely be seeing SailGP still here and racing in consistent events. It's going to be the backbone of sailing. It's five years old now, a lot of people were saying that it would be around for a year or two and disappear.' Founded by the billionaire Larry Ellison, the co-founder of tech firm Oracle, SailGP is discovering traction in what their executives describe as the crossover market between lifestyle and experiential sports. Slingsby notes there are markets such as New Zealand where the fandom is more intense, and athletes are approached at hotels and when out for dinner. SailGP's executive Thompson says the event's ratings 'regularly average around 20 million dedicated viewers around the world.' In the U.S., CBS and its Paramount+ streaming platform broadcast the event. Their highest-rated events — which bring in around 1.8 million viewers — have been intentionally scheduled to follow NFL games in order to capture audiences from America's most popular sport. SailGP's chief revenue officer Ben Johnson bristles at any suggestion sailing is a 'niche' sport, but the locations of some races — St. Tropez in France, Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the Middle East, or Manhattan — do lend themselves to an exclusive in-person audience. The aim is a vast broadcast audience and a hot-ticket live event. Johnson says they are taking learnings from events such as the Kentucky Derby, or the Indy 500, as well as F1, and 'leagues who are moving from traditional sports operators to more sports entertainment and even just broadly entertainment properties.' By attracting celebrity investors (or employing DJ Khaled as the league's 'Chief Hype Officer'), SailGP want to make their events, much like F1, a place to see and be seen. Advertisement Johnson says: 'It is very intentional. There are brands like (European soccer champions) Paris Saint-Germain, where they are more of a lifestyle brand than they are a traditional sports team. They are a perfect example of where we see the opportunity in the global sports space. 'We don't need to be a season-ticketed event. We don't need local media rights to validate our audience growth or our revenue model. We think the demand right now from an experiential standpoint is the highest it's ever been and will continue to grow. So we're focused on new fanbases and inspiring the next generation of lifestyle sports fans. 'People (are) looking for social, communal, family-friendly, brand safe moments where they can bring people together. And I think we're the perfect backdrop for that. It's new, it's novel, fast, you know, all the things that you need to really capture people's attention.' Sponsors are certainly discovering the appeal. SailGP's title sponsor is Rolex, but across the league and teams there are now investments or partnerships from sovereign wealth funds, such as Mubadala Capital (of Abu Dhabi), as well as Emirates airline sponsoring the league and Red Bull partnering with the Italian team, while the U.S. team have sponsorships with Tommy Hilfiger, Amazon, and T-Mobile. The British team is title-sponsored by Emirates and has a partnership with JP Morgan, while Deutsche Bank sponsors the German side. 'I would expect next year you (will) see all the teams somewhere close to commercial profitability,' says Buckley. When asked about profitability, Johnson said SailGP does not disclose its financials, but it is 'ahead of our own internal targets.' The growing investment in the sport is also accompanied by increased jeopardy. Only Spain have won more than one event this season, which may be one of the advantages of sailors racing on identical boats — meaning winning and losing come down to conditions on the day and the performances and skill of those on board. That is not to say there have not been challenges. May's SailGP event was supposed to be held in Rio de Janeiro for the first time but it was cancelled after a defect was found in some of the fleet's wingsails. Australia's wingsail collapsed in San Francisco in a moment Slingsby called a 'scary situation.' The 12 boats were all back on the start line in New York. With 12 teams and money swishing around the sport, talk invariably turns to expansion. Russell Coutts, SailGP CEO and an Olympic gold medallist with New Zealand, has previously spoken about expanding the number of events per season to as high as 20 or 24. Plenty of nations remain untapped, notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which has poured money into sports elsewhere. Advertisement 'I think the demand right now exceeds 12 teams,' Johnson says. 'We have an opportunity for us to announce expansion teams, continue to look at markets that we think are really additive.' Buckley says 'balance' is key, concluding: 'There are plenty of countries out there that aren't represented currently in the league. It would be great for all of us.'
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dem elites accused of slapping small-town cops with ‘witch hunt' fines twice their pay
Dozens of officers in a small-town New York police department near the Canadian border have been fined for allegedly taking part in an unauthorized labor strike during a snowy stretch this winter. The union described the fines as retaliation and an abuse of power that denied the officers due process. One of the officers says the allegations aren't true. He went to work, participated in on-duty training and even made a drunken driving stop during a span when it snowed "every day." "They're upset that we didn't make them enough money and meet their perceived ticket quota," said Andy Thompson, a Tonawanda Police officer and the president of the department's union, the Tonawanda Police Club. New York Prison Guards Fired For Ignoring Deal To End Strike, Thousands Set To Lose Health Insurance Tonawanda Police Chief James Stauffiger, whom the union is asking town residents to oust, said Thompson's allegations are "without merit." Read On The Fox News App "I stand behind the charges filed against the union with the Public Employees Relations Board and the individual officers," he told Fox News Digital. "The process needs to unfold fairly and thoroughly." Thompson is among the nearly 50 officers accused of going on strike without authorization for one hour a day over a nine-day stretch and has had two hours of pay docked for each of those days, according to a letter he received that was signed by Tonawanda Town Supervisor Joe Emminger. Blue City Police Sergeants Say They're Paid Less Than Subordinates As Billions Go To Migrants "We didn't strike. We showed up to work every day. We did our jobs every day," Thompson told Fox News Digital. "We didn't write enough tickets, and we didn't put enough money in the town's coffers. And they decided they're going to fine each officer." Ticket quotas are illegal under New York law, he noted, and workplace retaliation can be, too. Between late January into February, the town got so much snowfall it ran out of road salt, and there was an increase in police calls. Officers were also required to spend 16 hours doing mandatory training with new department-issued guns, all during a staffing shortage after seven officers retired or left at the start of the new year, Thompson told Fox News Digital. Obama-era Prosecutor's Probe Into Blue State Police Racial Bias Claims Called 'Untenable' For Troopers This year, Tonawanda Police has issued 123 tickets, according to a filing with New York's Public Employment Relations Board. Between 2021 and 2024, the department issued between 439 and 653 over the same period. Town leaders alleged in the document that the decrease is the result of officers striking without permission in violation of the state's civil service laws. "It's unheard of," said Mike O'Meara, the president of the Police Conference of New York, the state's largest police union. "They're making this up as they go along." He called the town's labor complaint against Tonawanda officers "unprecedented," as well as the fines, which are double the hourly wage of officers for each hour they were allegedly striking. "It may be somewhat unprecedented to claim that a reduction in the issuance of traffic tickets constitutes a strike," said Jerry Cutler, author of "Legal Guide to Human Resources" and a Columbia University lecturer. "However, the critical issue from a legal standpoint is whether the employees have abstained from performing their duties in the normal manner." Experts say that, feud aside, it boils down to whoever has more convincing evidence. "A reduction in ticket volume may point to a concerted effort to interfere with the employer's operations, in which case the action would likely be found to constitute an unlawful strike," Cutler told Fox News Digital. "Alternatively, the evidence may suggest some legitimate reason for the reduced ticket volume – or that this is not an apt means of comparison – which would lead to a finding that the law has not been violated." Department leaders say officers went on strike to protest disciplinary measures taken against Tonawanda Officer Bikramjit Singh, a U.S. Army veteran accused of mishandling evidence while investigating a potential drug deal. "He had his body camera on. He opens this water bottle. There's a bag in there," Thompson said. "He looks at the bag. … He says it's garbage. He wraps it up in his glove, and he disposes of it." However, a suspected drug dealer and suspected drug user later told police there were drugs in the bag, and department officials moved to have Singh fired for throwing it out, Thompson said. The alleged drugs were never recovered, but Singh wound up resigning since being fired could have cost him his law enforcement certifications, Thompson said. Tensions were already simmering between the rank-and-file and Stauffiger, an Emminger appointee who they accuse of unfairly forcing Singh out and withholding paperwork that would allow him to find new employment in law enforcement in another department. Stauffiger, a 30-year member of the department, was appointed chief five years ago as part of an effort to eradicate corruption from the department. Thompson, too, represents new leadership, having been president of the union for just over a year. "There's no due process, and this whole thing was done between the supervisor and the law firm that represents the town, who also donates large amounts of money to the town supervisors' campaign and the Town of Tonawanda Democratic Party's campaigns," Thompson said, citing public records. "So, it's more of a witch hunt than anything." Emminger did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the town's law firm. Thompson believes the allegations mark the first time the state's civil service law has been used to punish police officers for failing to meet "quotas" after he says the town lost money due to a decrease in traffic citations issued during the snowfall. "This is going to end up being case law by the time this is all over," Thompson said. "This has never been done to a police union before." Click To Get The Fox News App The union has launched a public campaign urging residents to demand that local leaders remove Stauffiger, who they accuse of retaliation and harassment and withholding "basic gear," including winter coats. According to the union, during the time officers were allegedly on strike, the department still made seven drunken driving arrests, issued more than 300 tickets and responded to nearly 2,000 more calls for service than the same period a year earlier with 14 fewer officers. "The real losers are town residents," O'Meara told Fox News Digital. "They're saying, 'Make sure you tag the residents of this town.'"Original article source: Dem elites accused of slapping small-town cops with 'witch hunt' fines twice their pay
Fox News
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Dem elites accused of slapping small-town cops with ‘witch hunt' fines twice their pay
Dozens of officers in a small-town New York police department near the Canadian border have been fined for allegedly taking part in an unauthorized labor strike during a snowy stretch this winter. The union described the fines as retaliation and an abuse of power that denied the officers due process. One of the officers says the allegations aren't true. He went to work, participated in on-duty training and even made a drunken driving stop during a span when it snowed "every day." "They're upset that we didn't make them enough money and meet their perceived ticket quota," said Andy Thompson, a Tonawanda Police officer and the president of the department's union, the Tonawanda Police Club. Tonawanda Police Chief James Stauffiger, whom the union is asking town residents to oust, said Thompson's allegations are "without merit." "I stand behind the charges filed against the union with the Public Employees Relations Board and the individual officers," he told Fox News Digital. "The process needs to unfold fairly and thoroughly." Thompson is among the nearly 50 officers accused of going on strike without authorization for one hour a day over a nine-day stretch and has had two hours of pay docked for each of those days, according to a letter he received that was signed by Tonawanda Town Supervisor Joe Emminger. "We didn't strike. We showed up to work every day. We did our jobs every day," Thompson told Fox News Digital. "We didn't write enough tickets, and we didn't put enough money in the town's coffers. And they decided they're going to fine each officer." Ticket quotas are illegal under New York law, he noted, and workplace retaliation can be, too. Between late January into February, the town got so much snowfall it ran out of road salt, and there was an increase in police calls. Officers were also required to spend 16 hours doing mandatory training with new department-issued guns, all during a staffing shortage after seven officers retired or left at the start of the new year, Thompson told Fox News Digital. This year, Tonawanda Police has issued 123 tickets, according to a filing with New York's Public Employment Relations Board. Between 2021 and 2024, the department issued between 439 and 653 over the same period. Town leaders alleged in the document that the decrease is the result of officers striking without permission in violation of the state's civil service laws. "It's unheard of," said Mike O'Meara, the president of the Police Conference of New York, the state's largest police union. "They're making this up as they go along." He called the town's labor complaint against Tonawanda officers "unprecedented," as well as the fines, which are double the hourly wage of officers for each hour they were allegedly striking. "It may be somewhat unprecedented to claim that a reduction in the issuance of traffic tickets constitutes a strike," said Jerry Cutler, author of "Legal Guide to Human Resources" and a Columbia University lecturer. "However, the critical issue from a legal standpoint is whether the employees have abstained from performing their duties in the normal manner." Experts say that, feud aside, it boils down to whoever has more convincing evidence. "A reduction in ticket volume may point to a concerted effort to interfere with the employer's operations, in which case the action would likely be found to constitute an unlawful strike," Cutler told Fox News Digital. "Alternatively, the evidence may suggest some legitimate reason for the reduced ticket volume – or that this is not an apt means of comparison – which would lead to a finding that the law has not been violated." Department leaders say officers went on strike to protest disciplinary measures taken against Tonawanda Officer Bikramjit Singh, a U.S. Army veteran accused of mishandling evidence while investigating a potential drug deal. "He had his body camera on. He opens this water bottle. There's a bag in there," Thompson said. "He looks at the bag. … He says it's garbage. He wraps it up in his glove, and he disposes of it." However, a suspected drug dealer and suspected drug user later told police there were drugs in the bag, and department officials moved to have Singh fired for throwing it out, Thompson said. The alleged drugs were never recovered, but Singh wound up resigning since being fired could have cost him his law enforcement certifications, Thompson said. Tensions were already simmering between the rank-and-file and Stauffiger, an Emminger appointee who they accuse of unfairly forcing Singh out and withholding paperwork that would allow him to find new employment in law enforcement in another department. Stauffiger, a 30-year member of the department, was appointed chief five years ago as part of an effort to eradicate corruption from the department. Thompson, too, represents new leadership, having been president of the union for just over a year. "There's no due process, and this whole thing was done between the supervisor and the law firm that represents the town, who also donates large amounts of money to the town supervisors' campaign and the Town of Tonawanda Democratic Party's campaigns," Thompson said, citing public records. "So, it's more of a witch hunt than anything." Emminger did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the town's law firm. Thompson believes the allegations mark the first time the state's civil service law has been used to punish police officers for failing to meet "quotas" after he says the town lost money due to a decrease in traffic citations issued during the snowfall. "This is going to end up being case law by the time this is all over," Thompson said. "This has never been done to a police union before." The union has launched a public campaign urging residents to demand that local leaders remove Stauffiger, who they accuse of retaliation and harassment and withholding "basic gear," including winter coats. According to the union, during the time officers were allegedly on strike, the department still made seven drunken driving arrests, issued more than 300 tickets and responded to nearly 2,000 more calls for service than the same period a year earlier with 14 fewer officers. "The real losers are town residents," O'Meara told Fox News Digital. "They're saying, 'Make sure you tag the residents of this town.'"
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Town of Tonawanda releases findings on alleged police strike
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Town of Tonawanda has released information supporting its allegations of an alleged ticket strike from police officers that began in mid-January. Officials believe the alleged strike was a response from the police union after an officer, who has since resigned, was disciplined. The Town of Tonawanda said that the alleged strike began on Jan. 15 and continued through Feb. 5. The town said that its findings did not come from any type of ticket quota, but through a significant dip in tickets throughout that time period. The town said that 123 tickets were issued throughout the alleged strike. In previous years over the same period of time, the town said ticket totals were much higher: 557 (2024), 653 (2023), 439 (2022), and 505 (2021). The town also said that probationary officers — who it alleges were advised not to participate in the strike — wrote the vast majority of tickets throughout this period of time. It said six probationary officers wrote an average of .89 tickets per day (71 tickets) compared to .14 tickets per day from 48 non-probationary officers (52 tickets). The town also alleges that Town of Tonawanda Police Club President Andy Thompson wrote zero tickets throughout the period of the alleged strike. The town said it was aware of the alleged strike on Jan. 29 and advised the police club to stop the strike, but that it did not end until Feb. 5. On Monday, the Town of Tonawanda Board voted unanimously to hire a law firm to bring charges against the police union. The town believes it violated the state's Taylor Law as part of the alleged strike. *** Mark Ludwiczak joined the News 4 team in 2024. He is a veteran journalist with two decades of experience in Buffalo. You can follow him online at @marklud12. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
