The new SailGP season gets underway this weekend in Fremantle, with the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix presented by KPMG opening the 2026 calendar. The Australian event, held on Saturday and Sunday, launches a season made up of 13 global events and marks the debut of the World Sailing competition in the Indian Ocean, while also introducing an expanded fleet of 13 national teams.
The sporting start comes with a broader context that illustrates the championship’s current scale: sold-out grandstands in Perth, renewed broadcast agreements in key markets such as the United States, Canada and Australia, and audiences that reached historic highs last season. The combination of on-water spectacle and media expansion positions SailGP among the fastest-growing sports properties on the international stage.
A season opener focused on the product
The Perth event opens a campaign that will visit iconic venues before culminating in the season final in November in Abu Dhabi, under a format designed for television consumption and the live fan experience. The championship retains its close-to-shore, short-format racing model, with identical F50 foiling catamarans capable of sailing faster than the wind, a defining feature that has helped attract new audiences.
Sir Russell Coutts, chief executive officer and co-founder of SailGP, highlighted the response from local fans in Australia. “The support in Perth has been outstanding; shortly after tickets went on sale, it was clear the event would sell out,” he said, underlining the collaboration between institutions, partners and organisers behind the opening chapter of the season.
The United States, a cornerstone of TV expansion
SailGP’s growth is reflected directly in its audiovisual footprint. The championship has secured a two-year extension of its agreement with CBS Sports, guaranteeing more than 50 hours of coverage per season in 2026 and 2027 across the main network and CBS Sports Network. The aim is to maintain visibility on key weekends and further expand the championship’s reach among U.S. audiences. Coutts described the deal as “a powerful endorsement of SailGP’s continued growth in the United States and the championship’s global momentum,” adding that the partnership will continue to bring high-performance racing “to millions of new fans”.
The extension follows a season defined by record figures. In November, the broadcast of The Race to Abu Dhabi drew 3.469 million viewers in the United States, becoming the most-watched sailing broadcast in the country’s history and surpassing the previous benchmark set by the America’s Cup in 1992. Globally, SailGP’s cumulative audience approached 215 million viewers, averaging 18 million per event.
Dan Weinberg, executive vice president of programming at CBS Sports, said the network is looking forward to “building on the success of this partnership” and delivering “more high-speed competition to an ever-growing audience”.
A global calendar built for growth
In Canada, SailGP has also renewed its agreement with TSN, which will continue to hold exclusive English-language broadcast rights, while RDS will provide French-language highlights. The extension coincides with Halifax hosting one of the season’s events and reinforces the importance of the Canadian market within the championship.
Australia, meanwhile, once again stands as one of SailGP’s pillars, both in television reach and live attendance. The sell-out crowd in Perth for the season opener underlines local interest in a competition that blends technological innovation, national identity and a stadium-style racing format.
The 2026 season maintains SailGP’s positioning as a league with a continuous narrative rather than a collection of isolated events. With 13 races spread across multiple continents and a winner-takes-all season final, the championship reinforces its status as a global product, supported by stable broadcast partnerships and sustained audience growth alongside its sporting development.
