# Economics of racing?



## zAr (Feb 22, 2009)

I enjoy watching the Vendee Globe, Volvo, etc. races but I'm puzzled by the economics behind the racing.

My understanding is that at the higher levels you have a corporate sponsor for a boat who gets to splash their name and logo across everything, and at lower levels you just have wealthy folk with privately owned boats who just fork over the cash and have crew along for the ride ("Other People's Boat Club").

So far, so good...but apart from a trophy, fame and your name on a list somewhere, what do the winners win? What does the captain and/or crew get? Are they under contracts, similar to other sports, where they get to take home some of the sponsorship money? If so, how much are we talking?

Is there financial reward for coming first in the Vendee Globe?


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

From what I could see in researching it - there's no cash prize for the VOR. As for other back-end deals...who knows.


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## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

The quick answer is that it's not economical. If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it. In Europe, however, they get 40,000 people to go to the start of a race, and the advertisers figure they get their money's worth. News coverage of the boats they're sponsoring goes on for months in Around-The-World races. Getting their names out there is good product placement and must be cheaper than buying TV ads.


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## artbyjody (Jan 4, 2008)

It is branding and sponsor recognition only. Rarely can one pull a profit from racing but a good team with good sponsors can even out at the end of the day...


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## zz4gta (Aug 15, 2007)

Boat ownership is what will kill you financially. Crewing on a race boat can make you a little money, anywhere from 50-350 bucks per day. But making a living at it is rarely possible. This is why, in my opinion, that there isn't more top end racing and TV coverage. For the people racing, all that time and money invested leaves you with little more than bragging rights at the end of the day.

Inject serious prize money into the program, and more people will see it and want to do it. Of course you can't offer big prize money, when you only get 40 boats out for a regatta.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Yacht racings is mostly a corinthian sport. We are amatuers doing if for the fun of it. I once sat down with a friend who was a golfer and we compared expenses for the past years vs hours spent doing the sport. Racing sailboats was a bargain. 

Jeff


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## zz4gta (Aug 15, 2007)

Jeff_H said:


> Yacht racings is mostly a corinthian sport. We are amatuers doing if for the fun of it. I once sat down with a friend who was a golfer and we compared expenses for the past years vs hours spent doing the sport. Racing sailboats was a bargain.
> 
> Jeff


A harsh reality is when I realized how much time I spent working on my old race car instead of racing it. My hobie turned into wrench work, instead of driving fast.


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## jackdale (Dec 1, 2008)

If you want the vicarious experience of racing a sailboat:

_Stand in a cold shower and tear up hundred dollar bills._


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

Look, brand exposure in these sports is enormous. Look at the VOR...it had a cumulative global TV audience of over 2 BILLION! This means that over the 9 months - VOR brands were connected with consumers this many times via television alone. That's freakin' huge.

The question now is - how do you apply a Nascar or F1 model to the VOR or Vendee? The dynamics are very similar.

It's doable.


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## xact (Apr 21, 2006)

not to mention effective for the major sponsors. If you follow the races think in your head about how many sponsors you can recall.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Puma, Disney, Volvo,


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## mgmhead (Jan 14, 2007)

It is said "In racing if you wish to make a small fortune, you should start with a large one." Boats, cars, planes, motorcycles, etc. pretty much the same, cubic dollars equal speed.


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

True - but remember, the money in racing is not the prize money...it's the sponsorships. So the question is how do you get more continual positive exposure for these brands when these races are only run every few years?


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## artbyjody (Jan 4, 2008)

smackdaddy said:


> Look, brand exposure in these sports is enormous. Look at the VOR...it had a cumulative global TV audience of over 2 BILLION! This means that over the 9 months - VOR brands were connected with consumers this many times via television alone. That's freakin' huge.
> 
> The question now is - how do you apply a Nascar or F1 model to the VOR or Vendee? The dynamics are very similar.
> 
> It's doable.


Smack baby... the problem is that all those boats were owned by corporations. It was a tax write off. Any sponsorship they got was a drop in the bucket and the financial math of <x amount of exposure> vs <limited audience> and that a majority of views was generated by that silly app game they had that most bailed out when realizing - why play if no chance in winning... way less value per view than say Nascar.

Nascar you purchase a seat - you watch. You buy swag and all the other things. It can not be applied to sailing because people will only pay for what they physically can experience. Nascar works because front seats - can be done. Easily getting autographs and Fan personal connection - done. You can hear, smell, feel, and see all of the action and in a few hours can go home with "I was there"...

This is a "instant gratification" society. Unless we start getting that dancing man on all our raceboats around to go viral - less the skipper and crew - incredibly boring to watch and worse than golf..


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## sailordave (Jun 26, 2001)

zz4gta said:


> A harsh reality is when I realized how much time I spent working on my old race car instead of racing it. My hobie turned into wrench work, instead of driving fast.


And to some of us this is part of the experience! I love just "messing about in boats". Never was much into being a mechanic which is why I just drive my car for the fun. Boats, thems I could tinker w/ all the time. Just may do so when I retire in a few years.


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## tommays (Sep 9, 2008)

You get the fun of winning a sometimes good looking piece of glass or metal with your friends and drinking is involved

What could be better ?


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

Are you in the pic tom?


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## tommays (Sep 9, 2008)

From left to right 

Its Tom ,Mark, Joe ,awards guy, Howard and Uncle Joes hand  total crew was 8 that day 

I am marginal on tactics and strong on NOT screwing the Spinnaker work 

Me and mark are the youth at 53 and 40 working up to uncle Joe at 92 

Its was one of are bigger ones as we won division and overall


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

Wow! Nice work dude!


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## tommays (Sep 9, 2008)

Were spending money already

Thursday, February 25th at 7:00Pm 
Strategy and Tactics Around the Racecourse

Presented by: Paul-Jon Patin

followed up by










For a full day on Sunday Feb 28

And we will meet at least 6 more times before the boat even goes back in the water


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## jarcher (Jul 29, 2008)

zAr said:


> So far, so good...but apart from a trophy, fame and your name on a list somewhere, what do the winners win?


Glory.


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