Photo: Supplied
SailGP called a fan-owned team "the ultimate fan loyalty programme" and over the next three months they will find out if it is a gimmick or a reality.
Two thousand Sail GP supporters willing to invest just over $31,500 each have until February to make their commitment if a fan-owned team was to make the season four start line in June.
These new team owners would be part of a Decentralised Autonomous Organization, or DAO, which is a blockchain-based form of organisation with governance managed transparently by its community.
Interested fans turned owners were expected to be able to purchase their equity token from 10 December which would give them the ability to vote on decisions ranging from the team name and flag, athlete selection, boat livery, fan benefits and access, sponsorship, management and team business decisions.
The DAO and tokens were being built on the NEAR blockchain, a partner of SailGP.
The fan-owned team would represent Bermuda and the Caribbean islands to meet the SailGP nationality rules which required developing nations to have four nationals on board in a six-person crew configuration. This would work in a similar way to the West Indies cricket team or the Pacific Islanders rugby team - with all involved nations competing together under a common flag.
Behind the bid to join SailGP as the 10th team - alongside New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Spain, Switzerland and United States - was David Palmer and his team of founders at Bernoulli Locke.
Bernoulli Locke was a member-based community creating immersive partnerships and experiences in Web3.
The team at Bernoulli Locke acknowledged the challenge of running a sports team on a democratised platform.
"Decentralised control isn't conducive to split-second decision making and team operations have very demanding requirements. Sports teams are traditionally centralised by definition.
"So, in lieu of completely decentralised operation - we need a way to approve general direction and allow team personnel to execute on that direction, while keeping the community involved and enhancing engagement over time," the team wrote in a whitepaper for potential owners.
Bernoulli Locke planned to run the day-to-day operations and manage the money, with the DAO to vote to empower a sporting director to hire the sailors.
Training for the sailors and initial team operations would begin in March with the first event of season four taking place in the United States on 18 June.
If successful, the fan-owned team could be sailing in Auckland in March 2024 when SailGP returns for the second time.
SailGP chief executive officer New Zealander Russell Coutts said the SailGP Participation Agreement had been updated to allow a DAO team to join the league.
"Professional sport is about building a passionate fanbase, and as a tech-forward global league - SailGP has leaned into Web3 to further develop the future of fandom.
"We look at the fan-owned team as the ultimate implementation of a loyalty programme, and this new Caribbean and Bermuda team will redefine the fan experience and team ownership model.
"It is a testament to the value of our relationship with NEAR that a decentralised team can be created to ultimately provide control of a team to a passionate community of fans."
There was an out if Bernoulli Locke's ambitious plan to raise enough money for a SailGP licence and two years of operating costs fell over - the money from individuals who committed to purchase tokens would be held in escrow and those who wished could get their investment back.
Larry Ellison Photo: Photosport
Ownership of the current nine SailGP teams was varied.
The original six teams, Australia, France, Great Britain, Japan, United States and the now-defunct China entry were bank-rolled by one of the richest people in the world Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, but were required to become financially independent.
In 2021 Ben Ainslie, the world's most successful Olympic sailor and America's Cup winner, took the majority ownership of the Great Britain team during the second season of SailGP.
A year ago, Ellison still owned seven of the teams competing.