SailGP adds head of broadcast partnerships in restructure

SailGP has announced a major restructure as it comes to the end of its third season.

It will now be split into key business units including SailGP League covering commercial, marketing, events, technology and strategy; SailGP Productions covering broadcast and content; and SailGP Technologies for the boat building, design and applied technologies division of the company.

As part of the reorganisation, Tom Gracey comes in as global head of broadcast media partnerships, arriving from W Series, where he was head of broadcast and media rights. Prior to this he worked for the English Football Association, most recently as the broadcast and media rights lead sitting across the FA Cup, men’s and women’s national teams, development teams and the Women’s Super League.

In this role Gracey will own and execute SailGP’s global media rights strategy, building and developing relationships with broadcasters and online media publications.

Sir Russell Coutts will continue to oversee all business units as SailGP CEO while Andy Thompson will take on a wider role as managing director of the SailGP League business unit, focussing on the growth and commercialization of SailGP.  Until now Thompson has been the chief commercial officer of SailGP, having previously worked as CFO of the America’s Cup until 2017.

Melissa Lawton, who joined the company last May, will be head of its Production unit. Fiona Morgan becomes chief purpose officer - she spoke to Broadcast Sport late last year about SailGP’s aims in the space. Other internal promotions include Daisy Vollans moving into the role of director of digital and Sacha Kemp becoming communications director. Julie Boyd will step into the role of chief financial officer with Jon Massie being promoted to chief people officer.

In addition, Leah Davis and Nicola Sands join the marketing department as global marketing director and global event marketing manager respectively. Davis has previously worked for Team GB as head of marketing and brand for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic cycles as well as the Laureus World Sports Awards. She also sits on the board of British Cycling. Sands was previously the head of marketing for W Series, and has worked for a number of rights holders running high-profile global sports events.

New SailGP League MD Thompson said: “SailGP is experiencing industry-leading growth, and as we prepare for both the Grand Final of Season 3 in San Francisco and the launch of our expanded fourth season in the coming months, now is the perfect time to put in place the right team and the right structure to take us into this exciting new phase as a business and championship.”