Black Foils acquired in landmark deal as SailGP league enters full private ownership

The Black Foils have been sold. MSP Sports Capital, the private-equity firm run by veteran sports operators Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moorad, has bought a majority stake in SailGP's New Zealand team – and with that, every one of the league's 13 teams is now in private hands. Nice timing, too: the deal lands just as Peter Burling, Blair Tuke and the crew get ready to race again in Halifax this weekend.

Nobody's putting a figure on it publicly, but SailGP managing director Andy Thompson says the valuation is the highest yet for a majority stake in a SailGP team, comfortably past USD $60 million American Magic paid for the Danish operation earlier this year.

Burling and Tuke both stay on as co-CEOs, and both were happy to talk up the new arrangement. “Today's an incredibly important milestone for the Black Foils, and the start of an exciting new chapter for us in SailGP as we represent New Zealand on the world stage," Burling said, describing MSP as "world-class partners, with an understanding of elite sport and what it takes to build something that lasts.”

Tuke described it as the payoff of a long-held plan: “From the very beginning Pete and I set out to make the Black Foils a world-class team and sporting brand in all areas, and we are thrilled to partner with MSP and work towards that goal and continue to grow the team. We wouldn't be at this point without the support and effort of a big group of people, and we also want to acknowledge them today.”

So who are the new owners? MSP is a New York outfit whose founders cut their teeth across baseball, basketball, American football, Formula 1 and European football. Its sports portfolio has taken majority ownership the X Games – bought from ESPN back in 2022 – a clutch of international football clubs, the AI firm Owl AI, and, until it cashed out in 2025, a stake in McLaren's Formula 1 team. The Black Foils are its first move into sailing.

CEO Moorad laid out the plan: “Our vision is straight-forward: win championships, represent New Zealand at the highest level, and build on the country's unmatched sailing culture. Peter and Blair are the best in the world at what they do – and we're delighted to partner with them in this next chapter.”

Najafi, MSP's chairman, called New Zealand one of the league's “flagship franchises” and said they were “thrilled to partner with Russell Coutts and the SailGP organization”.

The deal carries more weight than one team changing hands. SailGP launched in 2019 under Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts as a centrally owned league, with a stated plan to sell its teams off one by one, and this transaction finishes the job. "This is a very significant milestone for SailGP – and one we set out to reach from the very beginning," Coutts said.

For Thompson, the appeal of the Black Foils was simple enough. “The awareness of the Black Foils is far and away the highest” of any team across SailGP's markets, he said, and “there's huge value to that.” He was just as clear about what the new owners bring to the table:

"We're really fortunate to have Jahm and Jeff come in. They're a great caliber of sports executive. Having them around the table for us helps us take that next step. These guys have been there, been in the room in Formula 1, MLB [Major League Baseball], other major sports. That experience is why we wanted to bring them in."

There's more to come, though. SailGP still holds minority slices of several teams – New Zealand among them, along with Brazil and Italy – that it expects to offload within the year. A 14th team is being lined up for 2027, when the league plans to split the fleet into two racing groups.

Thompson says SailGP expects to count itself “amongst the major sports leagues on the globe” inside five years. Bold talk, perhaps, but the recent run of deals – Quantum Pacific buying Spain, American Magic taking the Danish team, the Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds group backing the Australians – lends it some weight.

It's been quite a week for the Black Foils, with the arrival of their brand new F50. The team’s last boat was wrecked in February's crash in Auckland, and so the build-up to the Canada Sail Grand Prix has doubled as a launch. On Wednesday the replacement was named, blessed and sailed for the first time in Halifax.

It's called Manawatītī – the heart of a tītī, or sooty shearwater – a name picked to reflect the team's resilience and collective spirit. The blessing was led by master navigator Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr of Te Toki Voyaging Trust, who did the same for the team's first boat, Amokura, when the Black Foils joined the fleet.

Manawatītī was built over thousands of hours at SailGP Technologies in Southampton, with the Black Foils' own shore crew putting in time at the facility before the boat was shipped across. After the blessing it was craned in, pulled out for a round of checks, then craned back and sailed for the first time on Halifax Harbour to begin commissioning.

Tuke summed up the day: “Today represented the culmination of a huge amount of work by a massive group of people and we are incredibly grateful for that effort to get us back in the water. To have Hotu give the name to the F50 and deliver the blessing also provided a special connection to home and where we have come from as a team. Seeing Manawatītī go into the water for the first time marked a massive step forward for the group since the incident in Auckland.”

Burling, taking the wheel of the new boat for the first time, was pleased but in no rush to get carried away. “It was special to be back sailing as the Black Foils and to take Manawatītī out for the first time,” he said, while making clear there was “still work to do before this weekend.” It was also the first outing for new recruit Stewart Dodson, drafted in to cover injured grinder Louis Sinclair through the remainder of Season 6.

After more commissioning and Friday's practice racing with the rest of the fleet, the Black Foils – new owners, new boat – line up for real on Saturday.